Chaos Unleashed
by Sh4d0wKn1ght
Summary: Chaos is the most powerful form of energy that can only be used by a select few. In the distant future, 2 who can use this power travel back in time to 2013; 1 is evil, but the other is not. Meanwhile 4 heroes learn more about each other while training to use their powers to the full extent. Rated M for language and possible other reasons. Enjoy and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello anyone who reads this! Feedback would be great, as this is my first story. Please be nice, I will get better if it isn't a good story.**

Chapter 1: Launch

**Aboard Black Arms Space Station, Science Wing; Year 2505:**

"Professor, with respect, do you really intend to send HIM back to that day? What if something goes wrong, or worse; what if it doesn't work?" asked one scientist to another. He had black eyes with greyish-black and red skin with small spikes along his back, shoulders, forearms, knees, and sides of his head. He wore black clothes that were slightly tattered and showed small holes and cuts along the arms and legs of the outfit. On his grey lab coat was a silver nametag that had "Dr. Talon, Subject ID #96858" engraved on it.

"What do you mean by that statement, child?! Are you questioning my genius, or should I remind you why I am the head of the science division? Have you forgotten who taught you what you know today?" exclaimed his colleague. The aggravated man was dressed in the same fashion, although his nametag was gold and had "Prof. Robotnik, Head of Science Division, Subject ID 96847" on it. His skin was a tan peach color with a somewhat large brown mustache and blue eyes; his physique slightly resembled that of an egg. He continued, "Respect the decisions of your superiors if you really want to make something of yourself, my boy. My decision to send him back to before Lord Black Doom was defeated by that accursed hedgehog, Shadow, is the precise reason this project was first created."

Talon looked at Robotnik in the dim light of the lab, thinking about what he just heard. There were three tables with smaller ones to the side of them, each with glistening tools for surgery or experiments, and a large island counter with various tools like microscopes, beakers, burners and such. Robotnik pulled up a nearby chair and sat in it sighing.

"You don't know what I'm talking about, do you boy?" he asked Talon. Seeing him confirm his suspicions with a nod, Robotnik sighed and began with a question. He asked "Do you know how you got here to the Black Arms Science Wing?"

"Now that you mention it Professor," Talon answered, "I don't know." His answer caused him to noticeably begin to worry. "I…I don't remember anything before I first came here!" He began to pant heavily getting scared, until Robotnik injected him with a bluish liquid in his arm and coaxed him to sit down. The shot caused him to instantly calm down and he sat down across from the professor and

"Easy, boy, or you'll burn out like the others," he said to him in a friendly tone.

Burn out? What does he mean by that? That was all on Talon's mind at the moment, so he looked in Robotnik's eyes and asked, "What do you mean 'burn out' and 'like the others'?"

Robotnik sighed again looking down. "Do you ever wonder what our Subject ID mean?"

Talon nodded.

"We were created at this facility, boy; you, me, and every other person in the entire station that has the ID on their nametag. We are experiments. Experiments don the grey metal tags, while special experiments have bronze tags, critically important ones wear silver, and silver-tag experiments that are given positions of importance, like me, have gold tags," Robotnik explained.

"Wait, we were 'created' here? Meaning that scientists here-"

"Made us using the cells of other people, yes," Robotnik interrupted.

"How long ago was a made…?" Talon asked somewhat dejectedly.

Robotnik sat back thinking for a minute, then responded, "I awakened you after you had finished your growing phase six months ago. You've been helping me with the Science Division's largest project ever since, though you didn't know it." Robotnik explained, "The cells that had been used to grow you were cultivated from the leading scientist of the science wing about two-hundred years ago."

Talon had been trying to process all the information that he had received. He thought for a moment, then asked, "Professor, whose cells were used to create you?"

"Hmm…" he thought and lifted his left arm. He tapped the watch and a square hologram appeared. "Search cellular database, codename 'Robotnik'," he said and the hologram showed a picture of a man who looked like the professor wearing a red jacket with black goggles on his head. "Records say that my cells came from a man from five-hundred years ago. His name was Professor 'Eggman' Robotnik, a robotic genius whose grandfather made Shadow with the help of Black Doom," he said. "This said he also is the one who awakened Shadow from stasis four years prior to Doom's downfall," Robotnik finished.

Talon thought long and hard regarding all that he has heard. Finally, he stood still facing the professor and asked the one question that has been on his mind for as long as he can remember. "Professor," he began, "why is this project so important that Black Arms had to clone more scientists to work on it?"

Robotnik tensed up hearing this, and look Talon in the eyes and answered in a dark and serious manner, "We are at war with the planet Earth." He then spoke to his watch again saying, "Search history database, codename Shadow." There was a pause, and then he began to read the reports. "Year 2001; Shadow is awakened by Eggman, who both activate the Space Colony ARK. Year 2005; Black Doom takes over Earth by bringing the Black Comet to Earth's surface and unleashing the Black Arms soldiers. Shadow kills Black Doom and used ARK's cannon to destroy the Black Comet," he finishes. "This project is to get revenge and possible stop the events of Doom's demise. Subject ID #96890, codename 'Razor' is the last of the experiments we intend to make. He is to be sent back in time to before the Black Comet is destroyed and stop Shadow. He is also to kill anyone in his way that attempts to stop him," Robotnik explained with a smile at the end.

"Okay so I understand everything now, but back to my concerns from earlier; what if it doesn't work? If it does work, then shouldn't Doom be alive today or at least lived beyond his encounter with Shadow?" Talon questioned.

"Time is a very complicated thing, son. For all we know, our time is the first to send him back with a message to do as we have done in this time zone, just to repeat our actions and send him again to that the loop continues," Robotnik explained as though it was simple.

"Well, is he ready? I'm just a clone after all; I might as well comply and finish what I was made for."

"Yes, he is ready, and your right. Let's finish this and send him to Doom for aid," Robotnik said somewhat downheartedly. "Onward to the other lab then, son; once we send Razor to Year 2005, we have to make preparations for plan B in case it is a failure, as you say."

Talon nodded and put his chair up along with the professor. "Of course, Professor Robotnik," he said smiling. "Lead the way."

Robotnik took the lead as they left the lab and head down the hall, passing other scientists and experiments on their way to the Technology and Robotics Wing. After a few minutes of walking, they came to a sealed metal door that had a hand scanner and keypad on the right. Above the door was a metal plate with the words "Project Razor" carved on it. Robotnik placed his hand on the scanner, and then typed something into the keypad. The door opened slowly with the loud sound of the door's hydraulics as it was responding to the open command given.

"Talon, this is your first time seeing him if I'm not mistaken, right?" Robotnik asked while facing him before walking inside.

"Yeah," he answered

Robotnik smiled and walked inside motioning for Talon to follow. "Welcome to Project Razor, Talon!" he loudly proclaimed with outstretched arms and a large smile.

The room was bright white with grey machines and computers covering the walls from corner to corner in the large square room. The computers were littered with different colors on the monitors that had several different kinds of equations on them. In the center of the room was a large glass cylinder and a metal pod inside it that had a black glass lid on it.

"Is that him…?" Talon asked in wonder. He was awestruck from the technology in the room, as well as the twenty or so scientists all hard at work preparing for the project to commence.

"That he is Talon; Subject ID #96890, Razor the Hedgehog. He is an artificial life form we created, much like Gerald and Black Doom made Shadow," the professor said smiling. He walked over to the nearest scientist and asked, "Are we ready to begin?"

"Yes professor, final calculations have been entered into the machine. All we need is your permission," answered the scientist.

"Good job, son," he told the scientist, who in turn smiled and went back to his work. He then turned and exclaimed loudly to the rest of the staff in the room, "Excellent work everyone! Five-hundred years ago, Shadow killed our beloved leader. However, he did not kill all of the Black Hand, and we rebuilt our forces in secrecy for all of these years. We even mastered the science of cloning and used it to recreate the greatest minds of history to work for our cause!"

At this, the scientists cheered loudly, which caught Talon off guard. He continued to watch Robotnik give his speech. "Today is the day that our hard work is rewarded! Today, we send Razor to our Lord so that he may retain his leadership of the many worlds he had before his untimely demise!" Another cheer, then the professor concluded his speech, "Now, RESTRAIN HIM!" he shouted pointing at Talon.

At this, Talon was instantly terrified and tried to run. He turned and dashed for the exit only to find that the door was already closed. Three scientists came up to him and grabbed him by the waist and arms. He tried with all his strength to kick and punch his way out, but was ultimately stopped and strapped on a table that is inside the glass cylinder to the right of Razor's pod with his arms and legs clamped down at the wrists and ankles along with a clamp around his waist and neck to that he could not move at all. A nearby scientist then cut his shirt open to expose his chest and stomach.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Talon demanded, in which the professor walked up to his left side.

"Quiet now, boy. It will all be over soon," he said calmly to the boy strapped to the table.

"Why, Robotnik? What are you doing?" Talon asked with tears in his eyes as his mind began to reel with possible outcomes. "I thought we were friends."

Robotnik looked at the floor with a grim expression. "We are, Talon," he said, "however, we are just clones. Therefore, we are expendable. And you," he pressed the index finger of his right hand against Talon's chest, "are the most important clone in the room, with the exception of Razor."

Talon was on the verge of crying and was trying to think of a way to buy some time before what the other scientists were planning on doing could commence. He asked, "What do you mean 'I'm the most important'? And I thought Razor was an artificial life form, like Shadow, that's what you said right?"

Robotnik smiled again and answered, "Your right, I did say that. However, his cells were cultivated from three heroes from five-hundred years ago. Their names are Sonic, Silver, and Shadow the Hedgehog." After learning this, Talon was completely shocked. "That's right, boy. Razor has the powers of all three of these heroes, and none of their weaknesses. Speed, Chaos, immortality, and Telekinesis; Shadow was the ultimate life form, but Razor is the PERFECT life form!" Robotnik then began to laugh and loud and diabolic laugh that chilled Talon's bones.

"You still didn't answer my other question; what do I have to do with this?" Talon asked still stalling, hoping the professor would decide to release him; and hopefully to learn why he was strapped to the table in the first place.

Robotnik, still smiling, took from a table near by a gun-shaped tool with a needle and vial on it. "You see, Talon, the energy of Chaos is like a battery. If it is not used after a certain period of time, it begins to die and will eventually go out. Razor's natural Chaos energy is like a drained battery; he has been in stasis for so long that the energy has depleted. At the moment, he is a normal hedgehog with great potential," he explained to all present, as he was the only one who knows anything about the power of Chaos. "You, my boy, have the power of Chaos inside of you, whether or not you know it. The scientist who you were cloned after had a connection to Chaos and could utilize it like Shadow. He could summon the ability 'Chaos Control' on a whim without the need of a Chaos Emerald. You too have this ability, since you are him in a sense. The liquid I injected you with earlier was to make all of your Chaos energy that is scattered evenly throughout your body accumulate near the bottom of your rib cage, which is where your main Chaos reserves are."

At the mention of this, a small bump appeared in the location described. Talon began to put two and two together and asked, "Is that my…my Chaos reserves?"

The scientists gathered around the glass walls observing in awe at the scene, and Robotnik laughed again and answered, "Yes, and now it will go into this vial I have. But first, I need to take some safety precautions." He then pressed a button on the table Talon was strapped to and three needles on the wrist and ankle braces stabbed into him down to the bone. "The needles are down to the bone. They are for in case you somehow call upon the Chaos reserves before I can extract it. It will redirect whatever you try to do into a tank on the other side of Razor's pod. It will then be used to fuel him even more," the professor explained.

Talon did not hear him though, as he was screaming at the pain he was experiencing with all his lungs might, and the professor stood unshaken as though nothing had happened. His hands and feet trembled from the excruciating pain, which made it hurt all the more. Tears ran down his face as blood began to pour slowly from the wounds.

"Stop your wining, kid; it's only going get worse from here," the professor stated coldly. "You see, everyone who is touched with Chaos needs it to survive; like a drug addict feels the need to take more and more of whatever their addicted to. The difference here is that unlike drug addicts, those with Chaos actually NEED it to live; without it, they die on the spot." He then injects the needle into the now two inch wide lump and pulled the trigger on the tool. The vial then filled to the brim with bluish-black liquid as it was forcefully pulled from Talon's reserves. Robotnik pulled the needle out and detached the vial and held it up for all to see. "Behold, the power of Chaos!" he shouted as the scientists began to cheer and applaud the professor for his work.

However, there was still a small amount of Chaos still inside of Talon. He was barely conscious, but somehow called upon the energy and whispered one little phrase; "C…Chaos…Control…"

Robotnik heard him, but it was too late. Talon lit up from his reserve to the rest of his body slowly to the point that everyone present had to look away. The professor shouted, "NOOOOOO!" as he slammed his fist towards Talon's chest to try and stop him, but instead hit the empty table. Robotnik stormed around to find that the tube that was to cable that was to connect the table to the pod and redirect the Chaos energy was not plugged up. Furious, he turned to the glass and roared, "WHO DID NOT CONNECT THE TABLE TO THE POD?!"

Not a soul responded, as they were all a mix of scared towards the professor and surprised that Talon escaped. Robotnik chose to ignore their silence and demanded, "Well don't just stand there like you have nothing better to do, find him and kill him! I want every person in this room to go and look for him; meanwhile I will send Razor back before something else could go wrong."

The scientists scrambled out of the lab more out of fear than determination to find the escaped prisoner. "So Talon, you think you can escape so easily from me?" Robotnik said to himself as he was typing on the keyboard. He hit a green button and the vial of Chaos began to empty into Razor's pod where it began entering his body through needles placed on his wrists and chest, sparking his own Chaos reserves back to life. "I have the blood of an evil genius coursing through my veins," he continued while looking at a monitor that showed Razor's Chaos flow spreading evenly as it should, "and now my greatest creation is showing signs of life as well. Now is the time for me to do as I intended to do with Razor from the beginning."

Robotnik opened the programming file used to give Razor all of his knowledge such as how to use his powers along with a list of his allies and enemies. He also changed the date of when Razor is to teleport from 2005 to 2013. "There, right after Eggman's most recent failure. You think having time at your fingertips would have made him unstoppable; but instead he chose to let the annoying hedgehog Sonic live rather than kill him from the start. Sometimes I just don't understand that man, but I can't talk seeing as I am him cloned," he shrugged and began typing again. "I will make the friends of Sonic his enemies and make Sonic, Shadow, and Silver his greatest nemeses. I will also make the group known back then as G.U.N. an enemy and make Eggman his only ally. Hopefully with this powerful ally, Eggman can finally succeed; I wouldn't want myself to lose again, now would I?" he asked himself, in which he responded with another laugh and pressed a red button.

Razor's pod then began to glow green; dim at first but slowly became brighter to where Robotnik had to look away. There was a loud warping sound as the pod vanished in a flash of green light. "Have a good future, Dr. Eggman," Robotnik said with an evil smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the next chapter to my new story. I would love some feedback and suggestions readers! I am going to try to post new chapters every Thursday between 5pm to 10pm est. BTW who is getting Assassin's Creed 4?! I can't wait! Until then, Dragon's Dogma, Battlefield 3, Black Ops 2, Sonic Generations, and Assassin's Creed 3 will keep me preoccupied. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2: Gathering

**Station Square, Outside City Hall; Year 2013**

It was the start of another hot summer day as cars came and went while three individuals walked down the steps from City Hall. The wind was gently blowing cooling them off slightly as they finished their decent.

A young blue-eyed yellow fox with two tails and white fur on his chest and around his mouth was making his way down the sidewalk on the far right of his two friends. To the far left was a ruby-red echidna that had long hair that had purple eyes and a white crescent-moon design in his fur on his chest and two spikes on his gloves. The third companion in the middle of the two was a deep sapphire-blue hedgehog with a tan chest and tan arms; his emerald green eyes was full of sadness as he stared down at his red shoes.

"Sonic," spoke the echidna, "what's going on? Tails and I came here looking for you because we were worried." He reached out and grabbed the blue hedgehog's arm. "Answer me, please," he asked in concern, "what did the mayor want that was so important."

The fox turned and spoke up, "I agree with Knuckles, Sonic. I received word from Amy that she saw you blazing through town ending up at City Hall. When we finally got here, you were just walking out. What happened?" The fox was full of curiosity as well as concern as he and Knuckles waited for their answer.

Sonic sighed and looked up at each of his friends in turn. "Tails, Knuckles," he began, "the mayor wants me to leave the city and never return." He watched them through half-lidded eyes as they both gave shocked expressions.

Knuckles turned and started walking back to City Hall with clenched fists. "Why that little…" He was interrupted by Tails flying by and landing in front of him.

He raised his hands motioning for Knuckles to stop. "Knuckles please, let's hear Sonic out," Tails pleaded with a worried face. The last thing the fox wanted was to see both his friends kicked out of the city. "I'm sure there is a good explanation," he turned to Sonic, "right, Sonic?" Knuckles calmed down and sighed turning back to Sonic, waiting.

Sonic reached in his pocket and pulled out a dark-blue Chaos Emerald. Tails and Knuckles both looked at one another and walked closer to Sonic, expecting a hushed explanation. Instead, Sonic walked closer to them and held out the Emerald. It began to shine and Sonic said, "Chaos…Control!" Tails and Knuckles both were shocked and covered their eyes from the brightening light emitting from the Chaos Emerald. There was a warp sound and then they were all gone. Some people walking and driving by had stopped in their tracks, watching them disappear.

**Mystic Ruins, Tails' Workshop/Home; Two minutes later**

"Are you sure they will come here? What if he runs elsewhere? I don't have time to sit idle by, I need to go find Sonic," stated an impatient black and red hedgehog with white fur on his chest as he paced back and forth with his hover-shoes in the garage.

"Of course he'll come here, I told my agents to inform the mayor and tell him to come here as soon as he left City Hall," responded a white-furred bat with purple wings and a purple latex outfit to match it. She smiled and walked seductively towards the hedgehog as he stopped pacing and crossed his arms at her response. Her half-lidded aqua eyes stared directly into his red ones. "Shadow, my dear, you worry too much," she said as she laid her right hand on his left arm, and then began to rub slowly upward and downward.

Shadow turned away and said, "Hmph, as if he will really come here. You ordered him to be kicked out of the city, a city he saved need I remind you." The bat stopped moving her hand and sighed taking it back as he spoke, "Besides, Rouge, we will need to find Silver too. This building is neither secure nor large enough to hold all of us as well as withstand what I have planned for them."

Rouge turned her back to him and walked a few feet away from him towards the couch on the far side of the room. She sat on the couch and laid down trying to relax. "You take your orders far too serious. As for Silver, I'll leave Blaze to that." she responded. "She can convince him to come here to meet us, I'm sure of it. And as for Sonic…"

She was interrupted by a blinding flash of light followed by a warping sound. Shadow was staring straight at it, unaffected, and saw three forms materialize in the room. The light faded and revealed it to be Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails. Knuckles and Tails looked around at their surroundings before Tails stated, "My workshop…but why teleport us?"

Rouge smiled and finished her sentence to Shadow, "…he's right here."

Sonic turned to Shadow smiling and asked, "Sup Shadow, what brings you here? I was told to meet Rouge by the mayor, but he didn't say anything about…"

He was cut off by Rouge as she said, "That's because he didn't know, seeing as I didn't tell him that when I spoke to him." She stood from her seat and walked over to Sonic. "My orders were to deliver the message to both have you restricted from the town as well as to have you meet me here." she told him as he was turning to her.

This news confused Sonic as he asked, "Wait, you had me kicked out?"

Shadow decided it was time to interject. He walked over to the group and put his left hand on Sonic's left shoulder. "It's not like that. The city is still trying to recover from the Perfect Chaos incident; although it was years ago, the mayor doesn't want to put the city at risk." he explained. "Eggman is targeting you with everything he has, going so far as to go back in time," he continued, "so Rouge and I were assigned to keep our eyes on you and your friends until Eggman is captured." He took his hand back and looked on to Rouge.

Seeing her signal, Rouge began, "I will tell Amy what is going on and have her as well as Cream and Blaze come and live with me for a few months or however long this will take," she explained. She smiled and hugged Sonic whispering, "I'll take good care of her and keep her safe Big Blue, don't you worry about that." She then winked and head for the door. "Later, boys!" she said as she left the workshop and flew off towards Station Square.

"I talked to Espio of Team Chaotix," Shadow resumed, "so that they can keep an eye on Tails from afar." He turned to Knuckles and smiled as he asked, "Care to stay here with them? They will watch the outside, but I need someone inside too just in case."

Knuckles smiled and crossed his arms as he answered, "I guess I could stay somewhere other than Angel Island for a little while, I just need to get my Emerald first." Shadow nodded as Knuckles head to the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes!" he shouted and then left heading for his home.

This left Shadow, Sonic, and Tails alone. Tails began to get worried and asked Shadow, "You think Eggman is back already? Or that he will attack us at any moment?"

Shadow could sense his concern and responded nonchalantly, "That's what we are preparing for."

"And where am I going?" Sonic asked Shadow. He could understand what the mayor was worried about and wasn't sad about it anymore, but was curious to what Shadow's intentions were.

Shadow looked in Sonic's eyes and answered, "You, Silver, and I are going to my home aboard the Ark." Seeing Sonic's concern, he added, "There have been quite a few modifications done to the space colony since the Black Arms incident. G.U.N. has taken over the colony again and upgraded both the security systems as well as the housing." He smiled, "it actually feels like home now, rather than an old abandoned research facility."

"Silver?" Sonic and Tails asked in unison.

"Yes," Shadow responded as he walked to the couch and sat down sighing tiredly, "Silver will be accompanying us. During the short time that he has been with us, he has captured Eggman's eye as much as you and I have, Sonic." Shadow crossed his arms behind his head and propped his feet up relaxing. "As Rouge told me, try to relax," he said smiling, "because as soon as he gets here, we're leaving."

Tails was content with Shadow's explanation, but Sonic still had questions. He walked up and sat on the other end of the couch and got comfy along with Shadow. "So," he began, "why the Ark? What do you plan on doing when we get there?"

Shadow sighed again, this time getting annoyed with answering questions. "I will tell you when we are alone; and by alone, I mean only you, me, and Silver in the room. No offense, Tails." Shadow responded.

"None taken." Tails said. Sonic nodded, content with his answer for now.

"Good," Shadow said smiling, "now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a nap. Wake me when Silver arrives."

"Yeah…sure…" Sonic answered starting to doze off as well.

Tails remained standing as he looked on at the two sleeping hedgehogs, then sighed and walked over to a recliner on the right of Sonic. "If you can't beat them, join them." he said as he laid the chair back and dozed off.

**Outside of Soleanna, Top of Kingdom Valley; During conversation at Tails' Workshop**

Atop the old abandoned castle stands a silver hedgehog that has five hair spikes on his head and two longer spikes underneath those. His arms were crossed and on his gloves was a noticeable aqua-marine circle with a line that leads to the gold cuffs which also had a circle around its length. His yellow eyes were glued to the kingdom of Soleanna.

"Silver!" called a feminine voice from behind him.

He turned his head and saw his oldest friend Blaze the Cat approach. He smiled seeing the lavender cat with her yellow eyes and purple dress approach him, doing flips and cartwheels here and there where she saw fit. To him, she was beautiful when she did her freerunning, however unnecessary as it may have been. He turned the rest of his body towards her and enveloped himself in an aqua aura as he used his telekinesis to levitate down to her from where he was. "Hey there, where's the fire?" Silver asked sarcastically while smirking to himself.

She stopped a few feet from him and held up her right hand and looked down at it smiling deviously. She then clenched it into a fist and looked up at her friend and answered, "It's right here, if that's what you really want?"

Silver laughed sheepishly and raised his hands in defense saying, "No no no, I'm good."

She put the fire out and said, "Good, now on to more pressing matters."

Hearing her more serious tone, Silver wiped his smile while crossing his arms and had a concerned look on his face. "What is it?"

Blaze placed her hands on her hips and explained, "We need to meet Shadow and Rouge at Tails' Workshop in the Mystic Ruins, now."

"Whoa whoa now, what's the occasion?" Silver asked. "I'm still watching Soleanna in case Eggman attacks. I can't just abandon the princess." he argued.

"Silver, she's not the princess you should be worrying about…" Blaze said as she crossed her arms getting annoyed. She enveloped herself in flames and asked, "Do you really want to argue with me about it?"

Silver stared at her for a minute thinking 'She doesn't have to set herself on fire to make me think she's hot…'

"SILVER!" Blaze shouted snapping him out with a jump.

"Okay okay I'll go, but who will watch her?" he questioned while calming himself down. 'Damn, she scared me good there.' he thought to himself.

"Rouge said G.U.N. will stay stationed around Soleanna while we are gone." she assured him while extinguishing the flames, smiling contently.

"Good, well away we go." Silver said as he reached in his pocket with his right hand. He pulled out his yellow Chaos Emerald and looked at it before looking up to Blaze. "Ready?" he asked. Seeing her nod and get closer, he held it out and said, "Chaos…Control!"

**Mystic Ruins, Outside Tails' Workshop; During "Nap-time"**

Silver and Blaze arrived a few feet from the door as the light subsided. She felt her pocket vibrate and took her cell phone out. She looked at it for a second then turned to Silver and smiled saying, "Have fun with the boys, Silver." She turned and started to talk towards the train station.

"Wait, you're leaving?" he asked in confusion. "You said 'we' will meet Shadow ad Rough, not 'I'." Silver said.

"I know, but Rouge has already left. I guess she got tired of waiting on you," she retorted jokingly then continued, "but don't worry, I'll be ok. Shadow will fill you in." She then walked back to Silver and hugged him while whispering, "I'll miss you, Silver…"

"I'll miss you too…Blaze," Silver said while hugging her in return. "I'll see you again soon though, no worries." he reassured her.

She smiled and they released one another. "Of course, see ya later!" she shouted as she ran to catch the train.

Silver waved as she boarded and turned back towards the door. "Time to find out what's going on." he said to himself. He opened the door and walked in. He walked to the garage where he assumed everyone would be, but was met with a surprising sight. Tails was asleep on a sofa, and on a couch next to it was Sonic and Shadow…cuddling?! They were leaning into the center of the couch and hugging one another while smiling, obviously asleep due to their snoring. Silver used his telekinesis so to not make a noise and decended the stairs. He stopped and floated crossing his arms smirking, wishing he had a camera right now. 'Oh this will be good…' he thought. He took an deep breathe and shouted, "SHADOW, SONIC, TAILS!"

All three jumped awake; Tails almost flipped out the recliner, but Sonic and Shadow was frozen in their place. Sonic stuttered, "S-shadow…why…a-are…you…"

He was cut off by Shadow teleporting out of his arms causing him to fall face first on the couch, and then reappeared next to Silver with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, a blush clearly visible on his face. "It's…not what it looked like." Shadow stated.

Sonic agreed saying, "Yeah…it was…we weren't…we aren't…"

Silver busted out laughing as Sonic sat himself up and looked away from everyone else while Tails stifled a laugh. "Easy you guys," Silver began after he caught his breathe, "I positioned you guys like that using my telekinesis; I thought it would be funny." He knew he was lying, but he knew they weren't homosexual and he also knew they wouldn't talk to each other if they didn't feel comfortable with one another.

Sonic and Shadow both glared at Silver like they were going to kill him. Silver started to back up slowly getting worried. However, Shadow spoke up, "Regardless, now that you're here Silver, we can leave." He then took out his green Chaos Emerald with his right hand. "Chaos…"

Silver then shouted, "Wait, where are we…"

"…Control!" Shadow finished. The entire room lit up and warped the three away.

Tails looked at the now empty room while adjusting his eyes to the dim room again after the light vanished. "Guess I'll wait for Knuckles to get here…" he said as he went to the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews! Special Thanks to ShadowEmpress76 for her help with ideas and suggestions. Keep the reviews coming people, every comment matters to me, and be sure to PM me if you want details on the story or if you're confused on anything. College isn't making working on this story very easy, but the next update should still be on Thursday next week if things to good. Enjoy Chapter 3!**

Chapter 3: Schooled

**Space Colony Ark, Research and Development Lab; Year 2012**

"-going?!" Silver finished as he landed on his butt with a thud. "Ow…" he said getting up and glared at Shadow shouting, "a little warning next time would be nice!"

Sonic and Shadow, who are used to teleporting, had landed on their feet with ease once they all arrived. Shadow smirked and said sarcastically, "Hey Silver, we're leaving."

Sonic stifled a laugh as Silver kept glaring at Shadow and then turned to look around the room they were in. It appeared to be a lab, although it was not one he had ever been in. He knew they were on the Ark, since Shadow had already told him that, but he had no idea where on the Ark. "Shadow," Sonic asked, "where are we?"

Turning from Silver, Shadow replied, "We are in a new wing of the Space Colony Ark. This wing is used to research and development of new technology used for both everyday life and as weapons." He turned and saw Silver with a look on his face similar to that of a baby staring off into space. He sighed and told him, "Ark is a space station orbiting the Earth. It was where I was created and is home to one of the single most powerful weapons in creation; the Eclipse Cannon, capable of destroying an entire planet."

"Okay, but why did you need us?" Silver asked. "First, Blaze said that we had to meet Rouge. Then, she leaves (to my disappointment) saying that she has to meet Rouge in Station Square and to meet you back at the workshop. Now, I'm on a space station that I've never heard before!" Silver was starting to get mad at him constantly being left in the dark. He spread arms out and shouted, "What do you want?!"

Sonic started backing up slowly when he noticed Silver start to glow aqua and hover, however Shadow remained a few feet in front of him with his arms crossed frowning at the unnecessary shouting. "Calm down and I'll explain," he said, "or I'll make you." When he said this, he uncrossed his arms and crouched slightly like he was going to jump at Silver. Instead, much to Sonic and Silver's surprise, Shadow began to emit a red aura as he stared into Silver's eyes.

Sonic stayed back and noticed they both looked like they were in the same telekinetic shroud, only different colors. He felt something in his pocket and reached in it to find out his blue Chaos Emerald was glowing faintly. 'What is going on?' he asked himself.

Silver, however, was in shock at Shadow. 'He…he can use telekinesis too?!' he thought. 'No, it's just a glow. I'm the only one who can use this power…right?' Unsure of what Shadow was planning, he decided to hear him out instead of fight. He lowered himself and turned off his telekinetic aura. "Please, explain yourself. Now." Silver told him.

Shadow also lowered his aura and crossed his arms again. "Look around you, and tell me what you see," Shadow told them. Sonic snapped out of his thoughts and put his Chaos Emerald back up and began looking around with Silver. The room they were in was grey with metal panels everywhere; floor, walls, and ceiling. The room was huge with them in the middle and three chairs at their twelve-o'clock with a glass wall before them reaching from the left wall to the right one. At their six-o'clock was another glass wall like on the opposite of the room, however behind this wall was an array of ten or more computers with G.U.N. soldiers working on them.

"Shadow," Sonic began, "why are there Gun soldiers here?"

"These soldiers act under my orders," Shadow explained, "and they are also the most intelligent scientists the Ark has. They are here to help us."

Confused as to what he meant by 'help us', Silver asked, "With what?"

Lifting his left arm, Shadow tapped twice on a red band on his wrist. There was a buzz and Shadow talked into it saying, "Tom, turn on the targets…all of them." When he finished, he tapped the band once and crossed his arms again. Suddenly, there were the sounds of panels clicking all around the three of them.

Red and white targets began appearing from behind the metal panels in all directions and angles as Sonic and Silver looked around them. Shadow smiled at their ability to be so easily amused. "Sonic, Silver," Shadow called getting their attention again, "Over the years, there have been a high amount of destruction in different cities around the world, and more recently on other worlds." Sonic and Silver was listening intently as he continued, "Each of these incidents were caused by either Eggman or an entity that he awakened. However each one of these could have been ended much easier than they were, with much less damage caused." He noticed Silver and Sonic take this offensive.

"Now wait a minute," Silver said approaching Shadow and standing a foot from him with a serious expression on his face, "the Iblis incident was not my fault."

Shadow uncrossed his arms and poked Silver's chest while explaining, "No, but when you first came to Soleanna those years ago, you were on a mission to kill Sonic because a purple hedgehog with a deep voice and dark mist of an aura told you to!"

This made Silver look away in shame and took a step back while swatting Shadow's hand. "He tricked me, we went over this…" he replied while looking up to Sonic, "besides, I helped in the end."

"Yeah, you did," Shadow continued, "after time and space had begun to crumble in front of us." Shadow walked up to Silver and placed his right hand on his shoulder. "But it could not be helped, and besides, after we defeated him time rewound so that it never happened. The only reason we remember is because we all contain a power known as the Power of Chaos."

Sonic's ears perked up at the mention of Chaos and asked Shadow, "What do you mean?"

Shadow took his hand from Silver and turned to Sonic. "The Energy of Chaos is what it is called, and it lets us use Chaos Control as well as our other abilities. Neither of you are aware of it, but everything you do involves the Energy of Chaos, which is located in something called a Chaos Reserve that is here…" Shadow explained while rubbing just below his chest. Sonic and Silver mimicked him while starting to understand.

"What powers do we use when we tap into the reserve?" Sonic asked.

"Well," Shadow started while looking around and pacing slowly back to forth, "for Silver, his telekinetic abilities comes from Chaos, as well as his mind reading." Silver was surprised when Shadow mentioned his abilities, but before he could say anything Shadow cut him off saying, "If you recall, you read my mind during the Iblis incident when we travelled back in time. You were able to call upon Chaos Control by reading my mind, thus learning how to channel the power in your Chaos Emerald" This eased Silver slightly as Shadow turned to Sonic.

"So," Sonic said, "I'm guessing I get my homing-attack from Chaos?"

Shadow nodded while replying, "As well as your unnatural speed and wind manipulation."

Smirking, Sonic looked down and asked, "So you remember our third encounter? How touching." Sarcasm was thick in his second sentence, and Shadow sensed it and smirked.

"Not every day someone matches me in speed and skill," Shadow answered. Sonic nodded at the compliment.

"What are the targets for?" Silver asked, dragging them back to the topic at hand. "And, for the last time, why are we here?"

Shadow held his right hand in front of himself looking down to it. He clenched his fist and it began to glow red with black lightning here and there. He smiled and replied, "I brought you here to harness your Chaos Energies. Once you do, all you will need is one Chaos Emerald instead of seven to transform." Sonic and Silver had shocked expressions while Shadow clenched his other fist and whipped his arms to his sides as well as tilting his head back looking towards the ceiling. "Ya!" he shouted and was instantly engulfed in a black and red flame-like aura that licked the air around him. He lowered his arms and brought his head down to look at Sonic and Silver. His fur was now glowing red and his eyes were completely black with the red iris like before. "This," Shadow stated, "is known as the Chaos Form."

Sonic and Silver was speechless. Shadow was hovering slightly and his fur seemed to tilt up like in his super form. "What is that aura?" Silver asked referring to the red one from before.

"It is a telekinetic field, just like yours," Shadow answered, "I am called the Ultimate Life form for a reason; I have all of your abilities; I do not know how I acquired them nor could I use them as you could."

Silver understood now. "So you're going to show us how to do this in case a situation comes up again and we only have one Chaos Emerald?"

Shadow nodded happy to not have to explain it any further. He held his hand out to a target and shot a bolt of red lightning at it while calling out, "Chaos Spear!"

Sonic grinned at the challenge and asked, "So what do we do?"

Shadow closed his eyes and breathed hard as he calmed down and returned to his original form. When he opened his eyes, he turned to the chairs behind the glass and started to walk towards them while responding, "You follow me to the chairs and sit in one, each of you." Sonic and Silver complied and talked up to the entrance with Shadow. Shadow then placed his hand on the glass and there was a beeping noise before the glass seemed to melt away to show a door. "We learned how to use Chaos Zero's liquefaction and solidification on glass." Shadow explained while walking through the door and closing it the same way as he opened it once they were all inside. They each took a seat and Shadow then called out, "Ben, we are ready."

A metal panel moved to reveal a soldier with three metal visor-looking devices. "Sir, yes sir!" he answered while walking up to Sonic, who was in the chair on the right. He then placed it over Sonic's eyes and pressed a button. He also latched Sonic's arms and legs down while he explained, "Don't worry, sir. The restraints are for your protection."

While Ben worked, Shadow started to explain what was going on. "This device allows us to train without damaging the Ark. Once I feel comfortable with your progress, I will test you out with the targets outside." Once Ben finished Silver's device, whom was in the chair in the middle, he began working on Shadow's. "Ben," Shadow said to him, "I want you to keep an eye on our vitals. Pull us out if you see anything wrong."

He nodded while replying, "Yes sir! Jerry volunteered to stay on coms and Brad wants to work media, with your permission sir!" Shadow smiled and nodded his approval and then Ben made his way out and closed the metal panel. "They're ready," Ben said in his radio to the others in the other glass room, "and he said you both may do as you wish." There was a quiet applause on the radio as Ben went to his computer that has Sonic, Shadow, and Silver's vitals on the monitor.

**Shadow's POV, VTS**

I opened my eyes slowly while trying to adjust to the white room. 'Looks like everything is running smoothly for now' I thought while I slowly leaned up. I was on my back on the floor and looked around me. Sonic was on his back about twenty feet to my right and Silver was the same ten feet to my left. 'They're both here, but are they okay?' I asked myself as I stood. My arms and legs felt sore but I ignored it while walking towards Sonic.

"Sonic, are you awake?" I asked him once I saw him stir when I got to his side. His eyes shot open and he jumped up in what I am guessing is shock and fear.

"What happened, where are we?" he asked while looking around. He was crouched slightly like he was fixing to dash off in any direction.

"Easy Sonic, you're okay. We were all sent to what is called the Virtual Training Simulator or VTS for short." I explained. 'This sounds crazy, but we've been through crazier' I told myself. "We have to go see if Silver is okay; but first, are you alright?"

He seemed to relax after I explained myself and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little sore." He then proceeded to stretch and I heard a few pops from his arms and legs.

I smiled and told him, "Good, and the soreness is a side effect."

Sonic stopped stretching and faced me asking, "That visor thing, it brought us here?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, this world is the result of testing after the World Eater incident."

"Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about now. Well, we better go see about Silver like you said," Sonic responded.

"No need," called a voice from above us. We looked up to see Silver in his aqua aura hovering down to us. "I heard everything, so don't worry about repeating yourselves," he turned to me and stated sarcastically, "I know how much you hate to do that."

I smirked and crossed my arms while closing my eyes. "Good, that saves us time." I said.

"What now?" Sonic asked me.

"Jerry!" I shouted, "Run simulation 'S2: City Escape'!"

Suddenly, the ground below us started to change. After a few seconds, we found ourselves strapped in a helicopter. Silver and I became transparent like ghosts and floated through the restraints in the helicopter, however Sonic was still solid and strapped in. There was a voice in our heads that stated, "Simulation for S2: Sonic the Hedgehog. Assignment: Successfully escape Gun forces while causing no collateral damage. Failure to comply will result in point deduction. Begin when you are ready." Sonic's restraints then were released and he looked over to me.

"What's going on?" he asked me.

I smiled and said, "Your training. Gun has a simulation of every single event and incident that we have partaken in. This is when you were in custody from Gun confusing you for me. We are going to relive our past adventures and try to improve on our performance using what I teach you about Chaos. Right now, we are going to relive all of the events and the results of each simulation will be recorded and the actual 'Schooling' will begin. For now, just do like you normally would." He smiled and I could tell he was going to enjoy it. "Silver and I will be close behind you, so go all out like the first time you did this."

"Basically," Sonic asked, "this is like when the World Eater took over and I had to relive my old battles?"

"Exactly," I answered, "only this time you're going to learn from your mistakes and improve from them.

"Well alright then!" Sonic shouted as he kicked the chopper's door open. He turned to us and said, "Try to keep up!" and jumped out.

**Sonic's POV, 'City Escape' Simulation**

'The wind feels great!' I thought as I held onto the left wing of the chopper. I stood carefully while peeling off a metal panel. Grinning, I stood on it to see if this one would work. 'Just like the first time.' I remember Shadow saying. I jumped off and spun rapidly using the makeshift board to propel me down so that my decent isn't too fast. "YEEEEAAAAAH!" I screamed as I saw the ground get closer. I turned right-side up and landed on the street with the momentum from the fall pushing my forward.

I could hear Gun robots following me as I rode down the streets. I leaned down with my arms behind me as I gained speed. I could see the end of the road and needed to ditch the board at the right moment. 'Otherwise this is going to hurt. A LOT.' I thought. I got to the edge of the sidewalk and jumped going into a few front flips over the sidewalk and to a staircase with three robots on it to my left. I turned to them and smiled. 'Too easy' I thought as time seemed to slow down as they shot at me. I leaned left then right, then jumped over one shot and dashed to them in a homing-attack. "One…two…three, you're done!' I told myself as I destroyed them. I ran up the stairs and turned right then left and defeated six more robots while I did so.

'Finally, another open street!' I thought after a few minutes of avoiding gunfire and bot busting. I started to run down the street with my arms behind me. 'The wind feels so good in my quills, I just can't get enough of it!' I thought while closing my eyes and sighing contently. My eyes shot open when I heard a horn behind me. Turning my head while running, I saw a huge black Gun truck that took up both lanes as well as some of the sidewalks; and it was gaining on me! I faced forward again and took a right still on the main road. 'Judging by the sound, it's still behind me.' I noted. 'It can take hard turns and keep up with me? Leave it to Gun to make things like this.' I took another right and a left only to find that the truck was still behind me. 'Think Sonic, think!' I saw at the end of this street was a rather large wall. I smiled and dashed at it as fast as I could. Once I was close enough, I jumped and ran up and over the wall. I turned and saw the wall shake with the truck impacting it. 'Hehe, not so tough' I thought and turned starting to walk to a chilidog stand to my right while thinking, 'Lunch!' I was a few feet from it when I heard something above me. I jumped back doing a backflip just as a Gun mecha landed in front of me. 'Right, this is why I didn't eat last time I did this' I remembered. "Alright, let's go!" I called out to it.

"Sonic, you are under arrest! Stop resisting and come in quietly!" the pilot called out while opening two missile launchers on the sides of the cockpit.

"No way, this is too fun!" I responded and got ready for a fight. He then shot the missiles all at once. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and they seemed to slow down. I took advantage of then and jumped from one missile to another towards the mecha. Once I got to the cockpit, I stood on top of it and said to the pilot, "Sorry, but you asked for it." I then flipped to behind the bot just as the missiles came up and hit the cockpit. 'Heat-seekers, gotta love them!'

The voice from earlier played in my head again as it said, "Simulation over, returning to VTS lobby." I saw that in front of me was Shadow and Silver, both solid again. I looked around and noticed that everything was white again.

"Not bad, Sonic." Shadow said with a smile.

"Not bad?! That was sweet!" Silver exclaimed with his hands up.

I came up and high-fived him then turned to Shadow. "What's Next?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers! School isn't easy for a Networking Specialist, but I'm making my way through to get some free time to work on this. Chapter 4 wouldn't be up if not for some free time I found the day before. Reviews would be nice. Tell me what you think, readers. Also, I'm going to start doing more specific times occasionally, starting with this chapter. I will also be marking when occurances in one chapter happen during another chapter, so try to bare with me while I experiment with this.**

**Enjoy the Chapter!**

Chapter 4: Injured Guest

**Kingdom of Soleanna, Wave Ocean; Year 2013**

**(Chapters 4 & 5 take place at the same time as well as during events in Chapters 2 & 3)**

The waves crashed along the shore of Wave Ocean, Soleanna's most popular beach. Families could be seen enjoying the sun and surf as seagulls sang in the air. The beach was not crowded, but still had quite a few people on the sand and in the water. Children could be heard screaming and laughing in joy of getting out and having some fun with their friends and families as their parents either played with them or relaxed under umbrellas and trees along the coast.

The lifeguard on duty was sitting on his white lookout post observing his surroundings with a smile. Suddenly, his smile vanished as he saw a flash of white in the distance. Everyone on the beach stopped what they were doing and looked at what appeared to be a star hovering at least two stories above the water's surface in the distance. The lifeguard squinted and noticed a being fall from the flash and splash in the water just as the light subsided. There was no movement but he could barely make out an orange form floating lifelessly. Instinctively he jumped off his post, grabbing a ring buoy, and ran down the coast to the water. He jumped in and swam to the unconscious person as fast as he could. When he got to it, however, it wasn't what he was expecting. Regardless, he used the ring to make dragging the unconscious man back to shore easier as he made his way back slowly. As he got near the beach, he called out to the other two lifeguards that were waiting for him.

"Get an ambulance, he's barely breathing!" he shouted as he neared the shore. They nodded and ran off, one to grab a phone and call the ambulance and the other to get a first aid pack. After about ten minutes, the ambulance arrived. Two men jumped out the truck and opened the back door, pulling a stretcher out. The lifeguards, who were tending to cuts and bruises on the injured man, then the EMS men came up and looked at the unconscious person.

"Wait, he's a hedgehog?! We were called to take a man to the hospital, not a Mobian! Our doctors don't know how to treat them!" one of the EMS complained. The lifeguard who brought the hedgehog to shore turned from the life he saved to the EMS.

"All I see is a man who needs help. Take him back to Soleanna; one of the royal nurses should be able to help him. They are trained to help any life form, human and Mobian" he told the EMS. He didn't like being told what to do by a lifeguard, but complied since they were surrounded by a crowd of concerned citizens.

"Alright, load him up, we don't have much time!" he shouted as they all worked on strapping the orange hedgehog to the stretcher and in the ambulance. "Thanks for the call, we'll take it from here." the driver said as he drove off towards the castle.

**Kingdom of Soleanna, Castle Infirmary; Three hours later**

"Is he awake yet?" asked a woman with red hair. She wore a white dress with gold trimming and white feathers; she also had a feather on her ear along with a gold tiara.

"Not yet, Princess Elise, but he is stable," answered the nurse, "but we don't know anything about him. All we do know is that he is a Mobian. He is a white-quilled hedgehog with a serious gash just below his ribcage. We were able to mend the wound and patch him up, now all we need to do is wait for him to wake up."

"Very good, please inform me when he comes to. I wish to speak to him before anyone else; I will leave two guards to ensure this." Elise turned and left as the nurse nodded and bowed to her.

**Kingdom of Soleanna, Royal Chambers; Midnight that night**

Elise tossed and turned in her bed as her mind was flooded with images she didn't understand. Every night was the same as the next; she would stay awake due to her nightmares and be exhausted most of the next day. Tonight, she was having the same dream as the previous night.

**Elise POV, Bed**

I was standing on the ledge of a tall cliff that overlooked the ocean. As I looked over the edge, I could hear an explosion to my right. I turned to see a large red, black, and yellow ship falling apart in a fiery inferno as it came straight for the cliff I was on. Stricken with panic, I turned and ran from the cliff. The ship collided with the cliff as the shockwave from the massive explosion caused me to fall face down on the grass a safe distance from the ledge. I turned around to face the ledge again after I heard something land behind me. I saw what appeared to be as a younger form of myself along with a blue hedgehog with red shoes and white gloves laying a few feet from where she was laying. I stood slowly as the two lying on the grass slowly stirred. The hedgehog was the first to get up; after he did he walked over and helped the my younger self to her feet.

I blinked and suddenly was in another location than before; a wide open field with bright green grass and some rock formations in the distance. As I looked at my surroundings, I could see the same two from the cliff, the young girl and the hedgehog, walking through the field with smiles on their faces. I smiled to myself as I thought, 'At least they are okay after what happened earlier.'

Suddenly, I saw a dark purple mist a good distance behind the two. I squinted and put my right hand up to shield the sun as I tried to make out the shape the mist was forming. After a few seconds the form seemed to be like the blue hedgehog, however four of the quills on its head was curved up and its entire body was like a purple crystal with pink eyes and green reptilian irises. The purple crystal look was brighter at the tips of its quills and it didn't have feet; only a few spikes with the purple mist from earlier around them.

'Who is that?' I thought to myself as I saw he was focusing on the blue hedgehog. He raised one of his hands and it began to glow white as a ball of light began to form in his hand. The light compressed until it looked solid, then he thrust his arm and a white rigid spike shot out straight at the hedgehog's back. 'Oh no…' I thought as I started running to them. Raising my hands, I screamed in warning, 'SONIC!' but I was too late as the spike pierced him.

I woke up with bloodshot eyes and sat up instantly while panting hard. I was sweating a lot and felt like I was going to be sick. I tried to calm myself as I wrapped my mind around this dream. 'First I dream of flames and a ruined city, now someone I don't know being killed by someone else I've never seen before. Am I going crazy?' I asked myself. Each of these dreams felt so real, but none of it is. I closed my eyes trying to remember more of these dreams to try to make some understanding of it.

Suddenly, my eyes shot open as my mind was flooded with pictures of more Mobians like the blue hedgehog; a silver hedgehog, a black and red hedgehog, a pink hedgehog, a white bat, a red echidna, a yellow fox, a purple cat, a red and black robot, and a man with black goggles blue glasses with red black and yellow clothes and a large mustache. I placed my hands on my head and clamped my eyes shut. "Who are they? Why do I see them in my dreams? None of this makes any sense!" I shouted out loud unintentionally. I heard my bedroom door open to my left. I instantly calmed myself and pretended to just be waking up as my assistant came in.

"My lady, are you alright? I thought I heard you say something." she asked in a worried tone.

I smiled at her concern over me as I responded, "I am alright, Joyce, I must have been talking in my sleep. What time is it?"

She lifted her left arm and checked her watch. "12:35 in the morning, mam," she answered.

I nodded and started to get up. "Alright, I am going to check on the hedgehog in the Infirmary. Return to bed or come with me if you like, the choice is yours," I told her.

She yawned and giggled, "I think I'll get some more sleep, if that's okay with you my lady."

I laughed at her response and nodded my approval. After she left, I walked to my closet and shuffled through my dresses. 'Let's see, which one which one…this one!' I thought as I pulled out a silver dress with red trimming, much like my usual white and gold dress. I changed out of my silk red pajama shirt and pants and slid the dress on. I put on my tiara and silver heels as I made my way to the Infirmary.

**? POV, Infirmary**

I woke up slowly to the sound of a computer beeping. I felt groggy and weak. Looking at my surroundings slowly, I guessed that I was in a hospital of some sort. I tried to sit up, but fell back down on my back as I felt a sharp pain on my stomach. 'That hurts a lot, what happened to me?' I thought as I looked down at myself. I had a white bandage strapped from my chest to my stomach. 'Whatever's wrong with me, someone fixed it.

I had dark orange fur with yellow shoes that appear to have a thick silver stripe that went from my toes to my heel. The shoes also have a silver rubber-like guard around the shoes. Weakly, I lifted my leg to get a better look at my shoes. 'Might as well take a better look, not like I'm going anywhere at the moment.' I thought as I looked under the shoes. The bases of the shoes were grey with four white circles. 'What are these for?' I asked myself. I touched the circle on the base of my left foot with my right hand. As I did, a white light shot out as air from the circles pushed my hand away. 'Airshoes,' I concluded, 'makes sense I guess, but I didn't know I could skate.' I put my foot back down and looked at my white gloves that had silver bracelets like the ones around my ankles. They had a yellow line of light in the center of the bracelet. On the palm as well as the back of my hand was a yellow light in the shape of a triangle with the tip pointing towards my fingers. The bottom of the triangle was a small yellow line that led to the bracelets. 'Where did these lights come from?' I asked myself.

"So, you're finally awake," called a voice to my left. I turned my attention from my hands to the door as I saw a red headed woman that was wearing a silver and red dress, "I was hoping you would come to soon, however you woke up sooner than the doctors thought you would."

'She's pretty…but who is she?' I asked myself. "Who are you? And where am I?" I asked plainly.

She smiled and walked up to my bed. "You are in the Kingdom of Soleanna; my kingdom," she responded, "and this is the Infirmary of my castle."

I tensed when she told me she was the leader. 'Am I in trouble?' I thought. "Soleanna?" I asked her. 'I have no idea what this place is.'

"Yes. Now, I have some questions for you. First of all, what is your name?" she asked me in a more serious tone.

"My name is, is…" I stopped and thought for a minute. "My name…I don't know what my name is." I responded after some thought.

"Do you know how you got here?" she asked as she sat in a chair that was next to my bed. She frowned when she saw me nod my head no. "Do you know what you are?"

I looked down at myself and turned to my right. There was a sink with a mirror above it. I leaned up, despite the pain, and saw my reflection. My eyes were blue and I appear to have five spikes on the back of my head; two long ones and three above them that had yellow covering a majority of them. The spikes on the left and right were curved up slightly and the one in the middle curved down like the two longer ones underneath. I laid back and faced my questioner. "I appear to be a hedgehog. A Mobian, right?" I responded.

She nodded and stood. "You seem to have amnesia. I will go and get the one who brought you here. He is a lifeguard of the local beach Wave Ocean. Listen to him intently, and maybe your memory will come back to you. I will come back later today to check up on you."

I thanked her as she left the room. A few minutes later a man came in. He wore a white shirt and red shorts with a white plus on the sides. "Hello," I greeted him.

"Hey yourself, dude." he responded with a smile. "I thought you were done for when I pulled you out the surf, you alright?" he asked.

I nodded and smiled. "The person just before you, she said I have amnesia. Can you tell me how I got here?" I questioned him.

"Princess Elise says you have amnesia, huh?" he responded, then continued, "Well, I was watching the beach. Suddenly, in the distance, there was a bright white light. A second later, the light dimmed and I saw you fall from it."

'A white light? I teleported here?" I contemplated. "Do you know my name?" We both frowned slightly as he nodded no. "Okay…regardless, thank you. I probably would have died out there if it wasn't for you."

"Don't sweat it, bro. It comes with the job, I'm just glad to help," he responded with a smile.

I reached my right hand out to shake his. He took mine and shook as I said, "I owe you. Maybe not now, but later I'll pay you back for what you did for me."

He smiled and replied, "If you feel the need to, I won't stop you. Just know this, dude; it's my job to help anyone in need, I don't need or expect a payment. I'm going to leave and let you get some rest, I'm glad you came through."

I thanked him again as he left. A few seconds later a nurse came in and checked the computer, I.V., and asked me if I feel any pain. I responded that my stomach hurt and that that was it. She wrote it down and left. I turned to my left and looked at the small table brown table with a clock sitting on it. '1:10 a.m., I need to get some rest. Something tells me it's going to be a long day…'

**? POV, 12:30 p.m.**

I yawned and stretched as the rays from the window behind me woke me from my much needed slumber. I leaned up and noticed that my stomach wasn't hurting anymore. I pushed the button on my bed to call the nurse. A few minutes later, the nurse came in and asked what was wrong. "I don't hurt anymore, can you check my injury please? I want to know how it is." I asked her.

She seemed to brighten up slightly and complied. As she removed the bandages, her expression slowly went from happiness to shock, then horror. After she completely removed the bandages, I saw my tan orange fur and a silver patch of fur on my chest. Just below my chest, about two inches down, was a scar that was five inches long.

"H-h-how a-are you healed a-a-already?!" she screamed in shock. "GET THE PRINCESS!" she shouted as she ran out the room and slammed the door. I also heard a lock on the outside.

'I guess I heal fast…really fast.' I concluded. I saw up and let my feet dangle off the left side of the bed as I looked down waiting.

A few minutes later, Elise came in after unlocking the door and looked at my stomach. "How?" she asked in confusion.

"I don't know, I guess I heal fast." I responded just as confused.

"It healed in a overnight…" she thought out loud. "Your injury, it looked like a bird had gashed you with its talons." she explained. "Actually, that's not a bad name for you at the moment." She thought for a moment before asking, "What do you think of the name Talon?"

"Talon the Hedgehog?" I responded smiling. "Sure, it seems to fit me." She smiled at my response as I stood up to stretch my legs. 'There's something about that name…' I thought before she began talking again.

"Well, Talon, care for a tour of Soleanna?" she asked after I finished stretching.

"Sure, I would love to see your kingdom" I responded as we left the infirmary.

**Talon's POV, Streets of Soleanna; Two hours later**

** "**I loved the tour, Princess." I thanked her as we walked back towards the castle. It was getting late as the sky was a color much like my fur.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the tour, Talon." she responded smiling. "I love this kingdom and everyone in it. I will do anything to keep them safe; I even agreed to have Gun agents roam the streets as well as monitor the boarders."

"Gun?" I asked in curiosity.

"Yes, they are a superior military group who focus on the safety of those who are under their watch. I talked with their director this morning while you were still asleep and arranged them to watch over the city. I only have so many guards, you know." she explained.

I nodded in agreement. "That's good. The more the merrier when it comes to safety, right?"

"My thoughts exactly." she responded smiling. "With Gun, my citizens' can-"

She was cut off by an explosion a few feet ahead of us. The impact caught us both off guard as we turned and started running in the opposite direction. We didn't get far as there was another explosion. I could barely see that they were caused by missiles.

"What's going on?!" Elise shouted in fear and curiosity.

"Someone is shooting missiles!" I responded as we took a left and ran down an alley.

We took another left only to find a dead end. Two more missiles exploded as we backed up against the wall. Instinctively, I stepped in front of Elise.

"Talon…" she said in concern for me.

"I don't know who is firing these missiles, but whoever it is wanted to trap us otherwise the missiles would have hit us instead of direct us here." I explained. "Show yourself!" I called out to the smoke from the most recent missile.

"My my, aren't you a smart one." responded the voice of a man. The sound of jet engines could be heard as a form began to approach from the smoke. The fire from the engines could be seen from below and behind the small personal transport the man was standing in. The smoke faded and he could be seen clearly now.

Elise seemed to get frightened after we could see him. "N-no…it can't be you. You are the one from my dream!" she shouted. I turned my head to hear her better but kept my eyes on the strange man in a red and yellow jacket and black pants. "He's evil…" was all I could make out of her mumbling.

He smiled and adjusted the goggles on his bald head and pushed up the blue glasses on his face. While straightening his huge mustache, he called out, "I am Doctor Eggman. I came here for the princess. I don't know who you are, little orange hedgehog, so step aside. If you don't, it won't be pretty."

His threat was cold despite his calm appearance and broad smile. 'Maybe a Gun agent will come by. I need to buy some time.' I thought. "What do you want with her?" I called out to him while spreading my arms out showing that I wasn't moving.

"I'll tell you, if you must know." he stated. "My scanners were tracking the Chaos Emeralds. They picked up an unusual Chaos energy coming from her, so I sent a spy-bot to scan her while she slept, which was when the energies were at their peak. I translated the wave patterns my spy-bot brought back and it appears that Princess Elise has memories of an event that never happened." he explained.

"What are you getting at, Eggman!" I demanded, still trying to buy time but also curious.

He seemed to get annoyed but continued, "Once I harvest all of her dormant memories, then I will know how to kill my nemesis; Sonic the Hedgehog."

Elise seemed to snap out of her trance once she heard Sonic's name. "Talon," she whispered to me, "I've had dreams of that man along with Sonic. I've never met them as far as I know, but I do know that Sonic is good and that man is evil. We can't let him find out what he needs to know."

I nodded in understanding then called out, "I can't let you do that."

Eggman scowled at my persistence. "What do you care? Sure, the procedure to extract the princess's memories will kill her, but this is not your fight. Back off now, or I'll kill you both and scavenge her brains off the walls to get what I want. No one will stand in my way, especially not some goddamn wannabe hero like you!" he shouted while slamming his fists on his dash.

I crossed my arms in a x-shape with my hands up and open. "I will not let you hurt her." I said in a serious tone.

He smiled and pressed a button. Two missiles slowly stuck out the front of his transport as he shouted, "Then try to protect her! You both will die here where you stand, then nothing will stop me from killing Sonic!" He laughed as the missiles launched.

Time seemed to slow down as I tensed up. I turned and saw Elise on the verge of tears. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists. There was a feeling rising from inside me as the missiles got closer. My eyes opened and I stuck my hands out to the missiles praying for them to stop. 'Elise doesn't deserve to die like this, I won't let her!' I shouted in my mind. Instantly, my body began to become engulfed in a yellow aura. The lights on my bracelets and gloves glowed brighter as I began hovering just off the ground. I focused on the missiles; 'Stop moving…now!' I commanded. As I did, the missiles also became covered in the same yellow aura.

"WHAT?!" Eggman shouted.

I looked around at both me and the missiles. 'How am I doing this?' I asked myself. I looked at Eggman and grinned. "Stay away!" I shouted as I flicked my arms up. The missiles turned around and faced Eggman. I then thrust my right hand out while balling my left fist up at my side. The missiles then fired back at their sender.

"NOOOO!" Eggman cried as the missiles impacted his transport and exploded launching him over the buildings behind him.

The fires from the explosion was heading directly towards Elise and I. I turned around and hugged her, focusing the new powers I had to protect us. A yellow shield materialized around us as the flames spread down the alley.

"You won this time, but I will return!" I barely heard Eggman call to me as the fire died down. I looked up to see black smoke coming from his transport. He was scowling angrily at me and fled as Gun soldiers came running down the street. Some of them shot at Eggman, but he was already out of range and flew off to the distance.

"Princess, are you okay?" one asked as I lowered the shield.

She slowly stood up and responded, "Yes, thanks to Talon."

"It was my pleasure…Princess…Elise…" I responded as I fell to my knees then face. Before I completely blacked out, I could barely hear Elise call my name and a soldier call for a medic.


	5. Chapter 5

**I found some spare time so I decided to jump ahead and do chapter 5! I planned for this to be my shortest chapter, seeing as it doesn't cover as much as my previous ones. I have a feeling you want me to go back to the Ark and tell the next Virtual Simulation. All in due time, readers! This is a more laid back chapter with some back-story of what happened during chapters 2-4.**

**Enjoy this quick read!**

**Chapter 5: Sleepover**

**Train to Station Square from Mystic Ruins, Top of the Train; 10 mins after leaving the Workshop**

**Rouge's POV**

I crouched down on one knee as the train sped on to town. I decided to take this opportunity to relax, seeing as I don't get to do that much with Gun having me run errands all the time. Smiling, I laid back and crossed my arms behind my head and crossed my feet while looking up to the clouds. 'I wonder what the boys are up to while they wait for Silver and Blaze, probably sleeping knowing those lazy asses. I sighed as the breeze from the train's speed cooled me off. 'It sure is hot today, good thing I decided to ride on top of the train than inside it, I bet the others inside are cooking like hot pockets in a microwave.' I closed my eyes laughing at my own joke.

After a few minutes the train started to slow down. I leaned up and saw the station. 'This is my stop.' I thought as I stood up and stretched. After I finished, I hopped up and flapped my wings. I then banked to the right towards town. I looked down at the few people who saw my shadow and looked up at me. Some kids saw me and waved, so I waved back with a smile on my face. 'Those kids are so cute!' I thought to myself as they smiled below me. Facing up again, I glided over to the hotel across the street from the amusement park. 'Clever placement, I must say.'

I flew down to the door and walked up to the receptionist. The inside was grand with red carpeting and what appeared to be gilded wallpaper with three support beams and bus boys busy with luggage of guests running about the place.

"Hello Miss and welcome to Station Square's most luxurious hotel, the Princeton Inn! Do you have a reservation?" she asked with a warm smile across her face as I approached.

"Hello to you to, and yes I do." I responded with a smile. I took out my Gun I.D. and showed it to her. "I'm Agent Rouge of Gun. I believe they arranged a room for me and my associates?"

She took the I.D. and looked at it then me then back to it. "Yes mam we do; a four bedroom and two bathroom suit on the top floor. Take the elevator right there, then it will be the door at the end of the hall on the left. Room 508." She stated while handing me the key.

I grinned and looked from the key to her and told her, "Thank you so much," while she handed me my I.D. back. I turned and walked to the elevator. The doors opened and I let the bus boy out before I entered. 'Boy, they work their men hard here.' I thought as I smirked walking in the elevator. I pressed five and waited. During the assent, I decided to text Blaze. 'I might as well let her know to head on over here. Then I'll call Amy and do the same.' I decided.

I dialed her number on my pink RAZR HD and opened her text messaging menu. "Hey grl, im already at station square. Come on to town at the princeton inn room 508. Cya here grl." I read aloud as I typed it. "And send. That'll do, now to call Amy. I don't feel like texting again." I said, then looked around at the empty elevator. 'I'm talking to myself now…' I thought to myself while my ears drooped and I gave the door a half-lidded stare. There was a ding and the doors started to open. I perked my ears again like they were and smiled walking down the hall. '506…207…aha! 508.' I thought as I approached the room.

I inserted the key and turned it, opening the door. I walked in and looked around. The room was much like the lobby; gilded with red carpeting. 'Not exactly the most creative interior designer, but it is still beautiful.' I thought as I walked around. The layout was simple enough; living room like area as soon as you walk into the room, kitchen beyond that, and two bedrooms on the left with two bedrooms on the right, each with a bathroom connecting them. My phone started vibrating as I finished examining the rooms.

I pressed answer and said, "Hello? Amy darling, I was just about to call you!" I sat on the couch and crossed my legs lounging. "Yes, actually I did see Sonic; I left him with Shadow at Tails' Workshop. No, you can't go out there just yet dear, just because you're dating isn't an excuse. Because, I need you to come over to my room at the Princeton Inn. Yes, the luxury hotel. I'll tell you why when you get here dear. Oh, and bring some clothes, you're going to have to stay for a few nights. I already told you I'd explain why when you get here. Blaze is going to be here too. Honey, if you ask me that one more time I'm going to arrest you! Alright, I'll see you in a few minutes, love ya darling!" 'Boy does she care about that hedgehog or what!' I thought after I hung up.

'Let's see what's on TV.' I decided to do after a few seconds of boredom. I clicked through the channels until I came across a News special for Soleanna. 'Hmm…what's this?'

"And in other news; chaos at the beach! A mysterious white light caught the attention of every beachgoer just a few minutes ago as eye-witnesses say that an unknown Mobian was found unconscious with a serious stab wound on his torso below the ribcage. Authorities will not disclose any more information on the topic and the young man's room at the Royal Infirmary is being guarded by Gun agents, preventing an interview." the anchor stated. 'I wonder what this is all about…' I thought as he continued, "We were not given a name of the victim, however a lifeguard on duty who saved the hedgehog is here now." I turned the TV off and took out my phone.

I dialed the number for Gun's Aquatic Base that was underneath Soleanna. "Hey, what is going on over there?! Don't ask me 'what do you mean?', I'm talking about a Mobian that was found unconscious after a white light appeared on the beach! Yeah, that! Do you have anyone looking into it? What do you mean no?! Shadow said to look into anything suspicious that happens over there; I think this counts! You can't get to him? The Princess is keeping Gun out of her Royal Infirmary? Of course she is, that's where we don't have jurisdiction; anywhere else is okay. Find someone to observe from a distance, or I'll find someone who can!" I hung up with a sigh. 'They don't come more idiotic than what Gun assigns on observe-and-report missions…'

A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door. "Coming!" I called as I walked from the couch to the door. I opened it for Amy and Blaze to both walk in. "Talk about being on time." I said jokingly to them.

"Yeah I know! I saw Blaze get off the train just as I got to town." Amy responded with a smile.

"Yes, so we decided to come together." Blaze added while smirking.

"So…now can we know what's going on?" Amy asked as she set her bag down near the couch.

"Of course darling, but Blaze already knows so she can go ahead and get settled in if she wants to." I said facing Blaze.

Blaze nodded and walked off to look around. "How come I was left out?" Amy complained while sitting on the recliner and kicking it back.

"Answer your phone sometime honey and you'll be the first" I retorted smirking. She huffed at me and I laughed while continuing, "Sorry but it's true. Anyway, Shadow is taking Silver and Sonic to the Ark. He's going to train them in using Chaos Emeralds to their full extent." I answered her.

"Isn't going super their full extent?" she asked confused.

"In a way, but they can do better." I stated. "Shadow can do with one Chaos Emerald what takes Sonic seven to do. He's going to make them unstoppable so that they will only need one Emerald. That way, they can stop their enemy faster while letting the enemy cause little collateral damage. For example, say Perfect Chaos was to attack again." Amy seemed to shutter at the memory, but I continued, "If Sonic only had one Chaos Emerald, that would be more than enough instead of having to gather them all."

"Long story short, Shadow is teaching them to hone into the individual Emerald's power rather than calling on all seven at once." Blaze stated after she was through looking over the suit.

"Exactly," I replied smiling as I started to lie back on the couch.

"But why do we have to stay here?" Amy asked.

Blaze beat me to the explanation as she said, "For our protection in case Eggman or someone else comes up. Gun has this place surrounded; both from a distance as well as inside the building. Knuckles and the guys from Team Chaotix should be staying with Tails while we stay here. Think of it as a sleepover." Blaze finished explaining with a smile and said, "Actually, I've never been to a sleepover."

Amy and I were in shock as we stared at her; she started blushing from the attention. "Girl, you're in for the night of your life!" I shouted.

"Chick-flicks, fattening food, and gossip are on the way!" Amy and I shouted together as Amy started to find a movie and I ordered room service.

**Meanwhile at Tails' Workshop**

**Tails' POV**

I sat on my couch with a half-lidded stare out in space as Vector and Knuckles were drinking away in the kitchen seeing who could put more booze down before passing out or barfing; whichever comes first. Charmy was flying around after drinking a Redbull Knuckles brought for him; he couldn't say still or quiet for half a second before taking off again.

I sighed at the plethora of cans that littered my workshop. "I'm surrounded by idiots…" I stated out loud while I put my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands.

"Welcome to my world, young one." I heard Espio say behind me. He was standing on the wall throwing his ninja stars at my titanium dartboard I kept on the wall right of the couch.

"Ugh…" I said as I sighed again, "this is going to be a long few days, or however long this will take."


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I said that I upload chapters Thursdays, but I didn't have the time to finish yesterday. This chapter was the hardest one to right so far, but I hope it's okay. Also, whoever has followed the story this far, you may wanna go back to chapter 3. I tweaked it a little when Shadow demonstrated the Chaos mode. I'm exhausted right now and it may take a little over a week for the next chapter to be uploaded. A friend of mine wanted me to bring Razor in, but I feel that it is not his time yet. Maybe in the next few chapters, but for now we deal with this. **

**Enjoy, loyal fans!**

**Chapter 6: Research**

**Kingdom of Soleanna, Secret Base in Dusty Desert; Half an hour after leaving the Alley**

**Eggman's POV**

"How? How did this happen?!" I asked myself out loud every few minutes. I my face was frozen with a constant scowl. I had just failed at capturing the princess, or at least taking a sample of her brain. 'But then that hedgehog…that damn hedgehog…' I thought as my transport began to descend to my main base (and current home) I kept in the desert. 'I have never seen him before, but he was able to defeat me so easily…' I slammed my fists on the dash in anger as my mind continued to replay the event that occurred in the last hour, '…his abilities match those of that silver hedgehog. What was his name? Oh yes, Silver…' I felt like an idiot for that, but discarded the thought.

The sand parted like the Red Sea for Moses as my transport hovered into the entrance. I pressed a button (that wasn't broken) that was on the dash and the entrance closed with lights illuminating the docking station. My transport landed with some difficulty due to the damage it had been dealt to. The room was filled with older machines I had made that either have yet to be used or was salvaged due to nostalgia over my favorite works.

I exit and began walking through the garage as I silently admired all the different inventions that surrounded me. I sighed at some of the prouder memories that they bore as I made my way to a door. I pressed a few buttons and placed my eye at the ocular scanner before the door opened and seven of my repair-bots raced over to my damaged transport. "Scrap it. Construct another, one that cannot be destroyed by its own weapons." I commanded as they began disassembling the machine for parts.

Leaving them to their work, I traversed through the winding hallways to my quarters. Once I entered the room, I looked around at the surroundings. Across from the door was another door to my bedroom; to the left was my 90 inch LCD HD 3D TV (custom made, of course) and to my right was my recliner. The entire room was lined with a custom speaker system that would make surround sound look like headphones and the chair was black leather with a cup holder on both sides and a remote resting on the left arm. I walked past it to my bedroom and opened the door. I walked in and turned right to my closet as I removed my soot-stained jacket and t-shirt along with my pants and shoes while pulling out another pair of jet-black pants and white t-shirt and a black jacket that had a blue stripe along the top half of the sleeves that met across the top. I dressed myself and sighed at the fresh feeling while zipping the jacket up to my chest. I pulled on a new pair of black shoes that had a blue stripe on the sides and tossed my broken goggles in the garbage while putting on a new pair of blue-lensed goggles. I tested the goggles to see if the tech in them worked right by zooming in and out as well as using the x-ray to look through the wall to the next room. Happy with my appearance, I exit to the entertainment room.

I sat in the recliner and propped my feet up while pressing a button on my remote that had my emblem on it. Within a minute, a silver robot came in and stood on the left of me awaiting its orders. "Prepare me something to eat. Go through my list of favorite main courses and select at random one as well as two side dishes and a drink to compliment it." I ordered. It nodded while exiting while I turned the TV on and went to the news.

The same old government rumors were mainly on while I waited for my food. Suddenly, something came up on the news that made me come to the edge of my seat. I saw the anchorman talk about an orange hedgehog appearing in the ocean after a white light lit the skies of Wave Ocean. They showed a video someone recorded on their phone. "That light…" I thought out loud while watching. "He fell from the light?! There's only three hedgehogs who can do that!" I bellowed while trying to put things together, "Yet, here is a fourth who can."

My robot came back in with a tray of fried catfish with grits and hush puppies while stating, "This dish seems optimal due to current location and circumstances."

I paid little attention on what it said in regards to my food. I lowered my feet and leaned up taking the tray from it and ordered, "Print out my current studies on Chaos Energies and take them to my library. Leave them on the large table along with a pot of coffee, it's going to be a long night" I turned back to my food after it left the room. I tapped the floor three times with my right foot and a platform rose up for me to place the tray. I sat the tray down and placed my elbows on my knees while resting my head on my hands in thought. 'This doesn't make sense.' I thought while waiting.

**Thirty minutes later**

I had finished my meal while my robots ran about gathering the information I needed. I could hear them racing to and fro just outside the door trying to accomplish my given task as fast as possible. I smiled to myself thinking, 'They aim to please, just as I programmed them to.' I turned the TV off and left to the library. As I walked by, any robots that crossed paths with me turned and bowed stating, "Master" before returning to what they were doing. It made my head swell with a sense of superiority at their acknowledgements.

I opened the door to the library just as the last robot placed the pot of coffee on a tray with a cup next to it along with sugar, cream, and a cup of stirring straws. It turned to me and bowed like the rest before leaving. I approached the table, pouring myself a cup and adding my desired amount of sugar and cream. Taking a sip, I sighed smiling at the amazing job the robots did before taking a seat turning my attention to the nine closed files that lay before me. They were labeled in order: Chaos Emeralds, Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Chaos Reserves, Chaos Zero, Dark/Light Gaia, Time Eater, and Similarities/Contrasts.

Opening the last one, I turn the pages to find something to tie this orange hedgehog to Sonic, Shadow, or Silver. I read aloud, "Studies show that the technique 'Chaos Control' causes a distortion of time and space around the user, causing teleportation and/or time travel as well as a blinding white light." 'So he can use Chaos Control like the other three annoying pin-cushions. But where did he come from?' I decided to keep reading, hoping that I could find a weakness. "Sonic, Shadow, and Silver all appear physically fatigued after using the technique. It is highly possible that they use part of their own Chaos Reserves to trigger Chaos abilities."

I slid the file over and pulled Silver's file up. I opened it to the section of his abilities and began reading, "Silver the Hedgehog; telekinetic savior of the future. Origins of Silver are unknown. Abilities include telekinetic manipulation of objects both living and inanimate, turning anything into his weapons. There is a possibility that he can use telepathy such as reading minds and manipulating thoughts/memories of others."

I sat back with my eyes closed and thought about what I had read. 'It seems this orange bastard is like Silver.' I concluded. "But where did he come from?!" I shouted raising my hands up and clenching my fists, nearly slamming them on the table before I stopped myself and lowered them, crossing my arms on the table and laying my head on them. I grunted in annoyance while thinking, 'Breaking my table and spilling coffee everywhere will solve nothing. Forget it, I will just go back to plotting how to create Eggmanland…' I elevated my head and pressed the button of my emblem on the communicator I keep on my left wrist.

After a few seconds of static, a robotic voice spoke through the speaker asking, "Master, what can I do for you?"

"Send the Librarian to my location." I replied.

I stood and poured some more coffee while I waited. From behind me I heard a door open and close, then a voice with a robotic British accent asked, "You summoned me, my Liege?"

I turned and smiled responding, "Yes. I need you to return these files to their rightful locations. It nodded and moved to the table. It opened a few more panels on its sides before nine metallic tendrils with rubber-tipped claws came out and grabbed each file. The Librarian turned and left me as it went about placing the files where they were supposed to go.

I turned back to the table and grabbed my coffee, noticing that a sheet of paper was face-down on the table. I lifted it up and began reading out loud, "Chaos Emeralds are attracted to one another and seem to be scattered often, yet Shadow always has the green Emerald. Legends engraved in the Lost Ruins of the Mystic Ruins states that each Emerald has a specific nature." I took a sip and sat down. 'Interesting…' I thought as I continued reading, "Engravings go on to state that if once an Emerald finds the embodiment of their nature it will always stay with him/her. There can only be one embodiment in all times. This is not limited to time; the Emerald's true power will stay dormant until it is united with its living match."

As I laid the paper down, began thinking, 'If Shadow has the green Emerald, does that mean it is his match? Has Sonic or Silver found theirs yet? And what is this 'true power'?' It was decided; with a broad smile on my face, I exclaimed, "Looks like I need to find a Chaos Emerald, as well as learn more about them." I made my way to the hanger while thinking, 'Angel Island is the home of the Chaos Emeralds, maybe the information I seek is there.'

I entered my new transport that seemed to just get finished with construction. I entered the coordinates and closed the windscreen. 'I may need some muscle too…this will work.' I thought while lifting off. I pressed my communicator and ordered for Android 294 to go to the Island before me. As I left the base, I looked to my left to see the pod flying ahead of me to the location and smiled.

**Mystic Ruins, Tails' Workshop; One hour after Eggman's departure (Two nights after Chapter 5)**

**Knuckles' POV**

I was helping Team Chaotix clean the workshop for Tails while he was out getting groceries. It hadn't been cleaned since we came to stay with him, and Tails didn't feel like cleaning it. I don't blame him, he's opening his home to all four of us while Gun looked for Eggman, so it is only fair we help him. Vector and I were picking up beer cans while Charmy dusted and Espio swept. It had been a good thirty minutes before Tails came in with arms and tails full of bags.

"Thanks for helping clean the place guys; it's a lot to clean for one person." Tails said as he placed the bags on the kitchen table.

Vector turned to him after filling a trash bag with cans and replied, "No problem little guy, it's the least we can do." We tied our bags and made our way to the door. "Charmy, get the door for us real quick?" he asked.

"Sure thing; Leave it to me, me, me!" he exclaimed while zipping about to the door. He dropped the duster on the counter near the sink and opened the door just as we approached it.

"Thanks" we said in unison as Charmy nodded to us. He then shot out the door behind us and flew around enjoying the fresh air. "Nice day, ain't it?" I asked them.

Charmy buzzed up to my face after I tossed my back in the garbage shouting, "Nice? This day is GREAT! The sun is so bright! The sky is so clear! The breeze is so refreshing! Who wouldn't want to be out here with a day like today?"

Vector laughed and responded, "I bet Eggman wouldn't want to be out. He stays in his own little world 24/7!"

"Yeah, I don't think he remembers what the sun looks like after how much time he stays tinkering with his little toys," I said to them while I sat on the plateau and laid back crossing my arms behind my head.

"I am sure that even he knows what the sun looks like, Knuckles," stated a voice from behind us. We turned to see Espio standing on the roof with his eyes closed and his hands in front of him like he always does.

"I was being sarcastic…and when did you come out here?" I asked in confusion.

"I am a ninja, remember?" he responded with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah, I remember," I responded crossing my arms, "it's kinda hard to forget about the only ninja Mobian in existence."

Espio nodded and disappeared. Vector, Charmy, and I were looking around until I felt something tap my shoulder. I turned to see him looking at me with concern as he whispered, "I feel a disturbance, my friend. Something bad is heading this way, or at least nearby."

He looked serious. I turned around to face him while asking, "Do you know what the source is of this 'disturbance'?"

He nodded no and I started to head back inside until I felt something inside me. 'This feeling…I have only felt it a few times before, and that was only when…' I cut my train of thought and ran inside to Tails. He had just finished putting up the groceries as I approached him shouting, "Take me to Angel Island, now!"

He jumped from surprise at my tone of voice and was about to counter until he saw my serious expression. "Sure think Knux, head outside to the runway. This will give me a chance to test out my newest plane. I'll be out there in a sec." he responded.

I nodded my thanks and ran back outside to inform the others. As I approached, Vector asked, "Hey buddy, what got you so wound up just a sec ago? Did Espio do something to ya?" At this, Espio crossed his arms and turned away, obviously offended but ignoring it.

"No, but I feel like someone is at the Master Emerald's shrine," I responded. Vector seemed confused so I explained, "I can sense when a friend or enemy is at the shrine." He seemed to understand so I continued, "Whoever they are, they are no friend of mine."

The all seemed to understand now as Charmy piped up, "Well what are we waiting for?! Let's go! Let's go!" He almost took off until Vector grabbed his leg and shouted, "Hang on ya impatient squirt, we don't even know where it is or what we'll find there!"

"Oh, right…he he he…" Charmy laughed nervously.

"Knuckles! The plane's ready!" Tails called from around the house. The four of us ran (Charmy flew) over to the runway and saw a somewhat large silver jet that could easily seat eight people, not including the pilot. He opened the windscreen and called to us, "Get in." We complied and strapped ourselves in as Tails pressed some buttons and flipped some switches. "Here we go, next stop; Angel Island!" he shouted as he hit the thrusters and the jet started to take off down the runway. The trees were already laid down as we zipped by and off the platform into the sky. Vector and Charmy were admiring the view while Espio meditated.

I was sitting with my arms crossed and eyes closed trying to figure out why someone was trespassing. The Master Emerald is too heavy to move by regular people and the island is too secluded to get heavy machinery over to it. Also, the Chaos Emeralds were not there, so the only thing there would be the shrine; but why?

**Ten minutes later**

"There it is!" I shouted. They all (except for Tails who already knew) turned towards Angel Island, which was to our left as we approached. I unbuckled the safety straps and asked Tails, "Open the windscreen; I'm going down there now."

Tails opened the windscreen for me as he said, "My scanners indicate that no life forms are down there. However, I am detecting movement around the Chaos Emerald's pedestals. There may be a robot of some form, so keep an eye out for Eggman."

I nodded and almost jumped when I heard Vector say, "We'll be there with ya as soon as we land, but Charmy can go ahead since he can fly."

"Good idea, Vector," Tails said, "Charmy is better than no back up, in my opinion. It will be a few minutes until I can find a good landing spot."

"And once he does, I will race to your location," Espio stated after he finished meditating.

"Alright, then make it quick; Charmy, let's go!" I shouted while jumping out the jet.

"WHEEEEEEEEE!" Charmy shouted while we descended. I free-fell most of the way and started to glide when we approached the ground.

Once we landed, we were facing the main stairway to the Master Emerald. "See anything?" I asked him in a hushed tone.

"Nope" he exclaimed cheerfully while buzzing around my head, "nothing except that broken metal pod over there!" He then flew off to my right at a silver metal pile of scrap.

I ran over to him and looked at it as he flew circles around it. "Looks empty, whatever was in it." I observed. I crouched down and picked up a metal panel that fell off and turned it over. My blood began to boil when I saw a very familiar emblem on it. "Eggman…" I spat as I tossed the piece of scrap aside. "Keeps your eyes open Charmy, Eggman sent a robot of some kind; wherever it is," I told him, "see if you can get a better view."

"Yes sir!" he happily shouted while saluting with a smile. He then flew up higher to get a better view. He pointed toward the pedestal behind the Master Emerald (by number, it would be the fourth of seven) and shouted, "Over there! There there there! It's some kinda white and red…thing!"

"Got it, stay at a distance Charmy!" I told him while making my way over to the pedestal. As I neared it, I saw the robot. It was an android; Mobian is shape with one long spike from its head and white covering it completely where fur would be. It also had on red metal shoes and gloves. It had no mouth and a visor for eyes and was using a red beam to do something to the engravings. 'Probably scanning it or translating it…but why?' I thought. 'It doesn't notice me…now's my chance!' I jumped at it and slammed my fist on the right side of its head.

"Yeah! Ya got it!" I heard Charmy cheer from behind, "Way to go Knuckles!"

The android was shot off into a stone wall just outside the vicinity of the shrine. I crouched down and kept my eyes on it, ready for anything. It was stuck in the wall with its arms and legs spread and head tilted down the red lights on its visor 'I assume are its version of the iris' lit up brighter and it pulled itself off the wall. It stood with its arms hanging down and eyes glued to me. It then announced, "Subject; Knuckles the Echidna. Scan commencing…" it then shot another red beam at me as I covered my face in defense. A second later it stated, "Scan complete; transformation activated."

"Wait, what?!" I shouted as its gloves began to grow slightly and two spikes sprouted from the knuckles. A metal plate was formed on the top of its shoes and the spike on its head split into multiple ones. After a half a minute, it looked like an android version of me.

"Battle mode; engaged." It stated while jumping and diving to the ground as it disappeared.

'Oh shit, it can dig like me now?!' I thought while looking around trying to find it. Suddenly, the ground below me started to quake. "Shit!" I shouted as the android shot out the ground and gave me a left hook, shooting me into air. My eyes were closed as I regained my composure and turned around to face the android just as it jumped up to me. I blocked one of its left hooks and countered with a right one that shot it back to the ground. It was on its back and I took the opportunity to do a drill-dive down straight through it.

Before I made contact, however, it kicked up and knocked me away before I could so much as scratch it. It stood up and turned to face me with its arms up in a boxing stance. 'That damn robot…how does it know my moves?' I thought as I pushed myself up and turned to face it. I was breathing hard from the hits it got on my already. 'This thing can really pack a punch.' I ran to it and punched with my left just for it to sidestep and punch my arm so hard it felt like it dislocated. I screamed in pain as I spun from the impact. Then the android roundhouse kicked me to the dirt as I held my left arm with my right one and writhed on the ground. 'Damn it!' I thought as I turned around and saw it slowly walking towards me.

Behind it, I saw Charmy start to charge it with his stinger drawn. Before Charmy could hit it, the android turned and backhanded him away. "Ouchie!" he shouted as he slammed into one of the pedestals in the shrine.

It then turned back to me and raised its right fist; the two spikes grew and fused to form one large spike with a sharp edge that glistened in the sun. 'Is this it?' I asked myself as I started panting. As it started to jab at me, a kunai planted itself in the android's chest, causing it to stop and look down to it. The spike retracted to the two smaller ones from before as Espio appeared in a whirlwind of leaves next to me and took me to the forest to the left of the shrine.

"Stay here my friend; cling to the shadows and remain quiet as I retrieve Charmy," he said calmly in a whisper, "I will return momentarily." With that, he disappeared again.

**Espio POV**

I remained invisible as I quickly made my way through the forest back to the shrine. 'I must bring Charmy to safety.' I thought as I emerged from the bushes. With a kunai at the ready, I progressed towards where I saw Charmy land earlier. I was almost there until the android came from the ground below me. I jumped just in time to avoid it and threw my kunai at it as he blocked it with the kunai I used earlier. 'W-what?!' I thought as the android and I landed a few feet apart from one another. I drew another two kunai and stood in a defensive position as the android's eyes lit up.

"Scan complete; Espio the Chameleon. Commencing transformation." It stated. With that, the multiple long spikes retracted into three smaller ones. Its gloves morphed from large with spikes to normal with a metal plate as the cuffs. The tail grew out and swirled at the end. After a half a minute, it looked exactly like me. It then drew another kunai from behind it and help both of them up in the defensive style that I was in.

"This will be difficult…" I said as the android changed stances and lounged at me.


	7. Chapter 7

**Greetings readers! I just got off of Spring Break (hence why I hadn't posted this chapter earlier). Chapters 7 and 8 go hand in hand in Shadow's POV mostly. 9 will go back to Angel Island, since I know everyone is dying to see what happens to Espio and the others. As always, reviews are welcome and I hope you enjoy the long awaited Chapter 7!**

**Chapter 7: All about the Toys**

**Space Colony Ark; VTS**

**Silver's POV**

'Damn, it's no use!' I thought as I dove to my right narrowly avoiding a large ball of lava. I had been in this battle for what felt like hours. Iblis roared seeing me still moving and launched four of his smaller lava-balls from his left hand, which I caught and hurled them back in his face. 'Take that you bastard' was the only thing in my head with each impact that I made. I smirked seeing him getting frustrated at me.

The lava entity known as Iblis; this giant lava-coated monstrosity has plagued me all my life (until Shadow, Sonic, and I finally defeated him in 2006). Even here, in this simulated battle, it still boils my blood to see him as he commands all the lava and fire near him as he attacks me. I jumped to my left as my train of thought was broken by a tendril of lava being whipped at me. The stone platform shook violently and began to crumble as I covered myself in my telekinetic field and levitated up to face level. I was pissed by now, and tired from the battle.

I was panting roughly as Iblis slowly drew his gaze from where I was standing to where I floated now. His green eyes were glued to my yellow ones for nearly five minutes as we stayed ready to attack and/or repel one another at any second. Iblis blinked and I took advantage of the split second; I whipped my right hand at him from left to right while shouting, "Mind-swipe!" From my fingertips was an aqua slash of telekinetic energy that cut deep into Iblis' chest. He screamed in agony as he covered the wound with his arms and lowered his head. I dashed to Iblis, grabbing the many stones from the destroyed platform with my telekinesis and forming them into a large spear. I pulled my left hand back into a punch as I got closer with my stone spike at my side.

Before I could get close enough to even launch the spike, I was stopped by a pillar of lava that spouted from below me. It hit me directly and encased me as I increased the density the aura around me until it expanded enough to make a spherical shield around me. The focus needed caused me to drop the spike instantly which caused it to crumble into the sea of fire below me. I crossed my arms in front of my face as I began to strain to maintain the shield. I couldn't see well beyond the lava that was around my shield, but I could barely make out that the pillar had formed a lava sphere around me. My shield cracked all around as I noticed that the lava sphere was condensing on me.

"Shi-" was all I had time to say before my shield shattered into a million aqua specks and the lava flowed in. I closed my eyes fearing the worse, but nothing happened. I opened my right eye then left and saw that I was surrounded by a red sphere that was similar to my aqua one. "What's going on?" I asked aloud as I checked myself for any injuries.

Suddenly, there was a flash of white light next to me and I closed my eyes again to shield myself from the light. I then felt someone's hand on my left shoulder as a familiar voice asked, "Silver, are you okay?"

I opened my eyes to see Sonic with his right hand on me in concern. He had a red aura around him, the same shade as the shield around us "S-sonic? What are you doing here? And how are you doing this?" I questioned him.

He smiled as another voice behind me responded, "He isn't; I am." I turned to see Shadow with his back facing me and a red aura around him as well, but with a more fiery nature to it. His right hand was facing Sonic and his left was to the shield. "Chaos…Control!" he shouted as he warped us out of the lava sphere.

When we reappeared, I noticed that we were behind Iblis. Shadow was still holding Sonic in a telekinetic field as I was in my own, but dispersed the shield since we didn't need it anymore. He turned to me and I saw that his eyes were black except the red iris as he commanded, "Take Sonic; Iblis is mine."

I obeyed and caught Sonic in my aqua telekinetic grasp just as Shadow released his red one. We floated back to give Shadow room and encased us in an aqua shield, just in case.

**Shadow's POV**

'I figured Silver could handle this, but he isn't ready yet it would seem' I contemplated as I readied myself when I saw Iblis turning around to face me. I floated up to him, a few feet away from his face. I spread my arms and legs out as I stared into his eyes and shouted, "I am Shadow the Hedgehog; the Ultimate Life form, and I command you to die!" As I said this, I began to charge my Chaos Energies. Iblis roared and began to clap his lava-engulfed hands around me.

Right before impact, I shouted "Chaos Blast!" and my Chaos Energies exploded into a destructive wave of pure dark energy that rippled from me, completely obliterating Iblis' arms as well as the rest of him. Within seconds, the battle was mine. "Rest in pieces, you bastard" I spat as I turned and hovered to Silver and Sonic. 'At least his shield could withstand my Blast' I thought as Silver dropped the shield.

"Why did you interfere, Shadow?!" Silver snapped at me, "I could have defeated him on my own!"

"Hmm, yes, well I am so sorry for interfering," I replied sarcastically while contacting my team on the outside, "but I tell ya what; next time I see that your about to be killed, I'll leave you to perish. Maybe then you'll be grateful!" I told the team to end the simulation; after they did, we were standing in the empty white room again.

Sonic stepped between us placing his hand on our shoulders to try to calm us. "Guys come on, save the fighting for the next set of simulations okay?" he reasoned and turned to his right to face me. "Shadow, don't be so hard on him; you were the same way not too long ago," he stated, causing me to look away. "And Silver, you're not alone out there; we're a team, and teams help each other out. If I was in a bind during City Escape, I'm sure you would have helped me."

'Sometimes I hate it when he's right, but I can't argue with him. I brought them here, I need to work with them; Silver and his attitude included' I assured myself before dropping my Chaos Form. Almost instantly, I fell to my knees and placed my right hand on my forehead as I felt a sharp pain through my body. Sonic and Silver instantly helped me by laying my down.

"Shadow, what happened?" Sonic asked in concern as Silver looked me over to see if I was injured.

"He seems fine," Silver concluded, "but I don't think his pain is physical."

I shrugged them off and stood back up, ignoring their concerned glances. "This is nothing," I lied, "I'm just tired, let's get some rest. We've been in the VTS for almost three days straight." I tapped my communicator and told the team, "Pull us out, we're getting some shut-eye." A second later, Sonic and Silvers forms flashed away and everything was dark.

**Five Minutes later:**

I woke to see that Ben had removed my visor as well as Silvers. I leaned up slowly as my joints popped from not moving for so long. Silver stirred slightly and Ben finished removing Sonic's visor as I got out of the chair. "Direct them to my quarters once they can walk; I have two spare rooms for them to use. Do not disturb me unless the Ark is being attacked or unless one of them attacks; I'm going to get a shower and go to bed. After they are in my quarters, the rest of you have the night off." He nodded his understanding and saluted as I walked to the wall on the left. I snapped my fingers and the metal panels moved to reveal a door. The door slid open and I walked down the hallway to my room.

On the way there I let my mind wander to what happened only moments ago. 'That pain…it was stronger than last time, but I cannot let the others know,' I decided, 'if they were to find out that using Chaos Form to use abilities that are not natural to me hurt, then I wouldn't hear the end of it.' Many years ago, during the Black Arms crisis, I discovered that I had an affinity for destruction and that if I was to use abilities like Silver's then it would cause physical pain. I was made to be the Ultimate life form, after all. I knew already that my powers were to be used as a weapon upon my creation, but when I first tapped into my Chaos Form, it scared the living shit out of me (which NEVER happens to me). I rounded the corner to the right as I continued to remember that moment.

**Flashback; Beginning of Black Arms Crisis**

I was being assaulted by both aliens and Gun soldiers. I had used Chaos Control for the most part to warp all over the battlefield, dodging both gunfire and lasers as best as I could. After nearly two hours of using only my fists and a pistol I scavenged from a fallen soldier to hold back my attackers, I tripped and fell face-first on the concrete. My enemies quickly surrounded me; Gun to my left and Black Arms on my right. I looked around and became engrossed in rage at the fact that I couldn't remember what their reasons were for firing upon me in the first place, other than that spectral image of 'Black Doom' or whatever his name was. Despite my exhaustion, I began to feel an uncontrollable hate form for those surrounding me. I closed my eyes, expecting the worse when suddenly, something in me just snapped. I was on my hands and knees when I noticed that I didn't feel tired anymore, I just wanted them dead and to leave me alone.

I felt my pocket burn as the Chaos Emerald began to give me power. A red glow began to engulf my body as I felt a surge of pure power run through my veins and one thought was in my mind; destroy. I chuckled quietly as I slowly stood up. The power felt so good, despite the sinister thoughts that clouded my mind; and the darker my thoughts, the darker the aura around me became. All of my pathetic enemies used their little toys to their heart's content as I spread my arms slowly. I opened my eyes with a devious smile spread across my face and released all of the pent up energy as I shouted what I had decided to name this attack, "Chaos Blast!" The explosive radius of my attack was large enough to incapacitate all of my attackers as well as level two blocks. I felt the dark power subside greatly as I felt it whisper inside of me, "We are one, Shadow…we are…destruction…"

**End of Flashback**

I approached the door to my quarters and walked through the entrance while looking around. My 50 inch TV was on the wall on my left with a black leather sofa in front of it and a small glass-top table between them, and on my right was my desktop computer with the screensaver of my emblem spinning on it; the kitchen was right of the TV. I headed straight after closing the door and entered the hallway; halfway down the hall were guest rooms with individual bathrooms on either side and my room at the end. I took off my Airshoes and socks along with my gloves and bands (but kept my gold bands on so that my power wouldn't be released and destroy my bedroom).

I walked into my bathroom and turned the water on, then walked back into my bedroom to check my phone. I don't normally keep my phone on me, which makes Rouge furious for some reason. As I was scrolling through the usual trash text messages, I came across a picture message Rouge sent me. Normally she sends me pictures of her trying on lingerie and asks of my opinion (why she does that I can only imagine, I don't understand women), but this was a picture of what appeared to be a TV. On the screen was an orange hedgehog laying in a hospital bed with text underneath that read "Mysterious Talon the Hedgehog is hospitalized after saving the life of Princess Elise from the world's most notorious villain and evil genius Doctor Eggman". My jaw dropped from both the fact that I had never heard of this "Talon" person and that it was on the news before I heard of it. I called her as fast as I could find her number and waited impatiently for her to answer.

"Shadow, you're actually using your cell phone?" I heard her respond.

I ignored her sarcasm and got to the point. "Who is Talon and how did he defeat Eggman?"

She sighed and answered, "I don't know. I already gave our boys over there a good 'talking to'. They're defending him while he recovers. There were two who arrived on the scene of the battle right before this Talon person finished it. They reported to see him covered in a yellow light and stop two missiles Eggman launched at him and throw them back. When they hit, the fight was over as Eggman was retreating and Talon passed out. That's all I know."

My mind was racing now. I had her on speaker mode while looking at the picture; he looked like an orange version of Silver and I. 'Scary…' I thought while I heard Rouge ask if I was there. I snapped out of my thoughts and said, "Yeah, I'm still here. Keep me in the loop on any more information you get on him; I need to know if he is a threat or an ally."

"You'll be the first, sweetheart," she assured with the nickname she gave me not long after we met.

'Does she like me or something?' I thought while smiling. I thanked her and hung up. I sighed and tossed my phone on the bed. I saw steam pouring out the bathroom meaning my shower was ready. 'I need to speed their training up before Eggman strikes again' I decided while stepping in the shower. The hot water felt relaxing to my tense body as I closed my eyes and tilted my head up to the oncoming water. I washed myself and made sure that I didn't smell like I had been asleep for three days.

After I finished my shower, I walked into my bedroom wearing a red robe and bedroom slippers (I'm a force to be feared but can be comfy in my own home, don't judge me). I noticed at the foot of my bed was a case with Gun's symbol on it and my name below that. I placed the case on my bed and opened it. Inside was what appeared to be a red and black flexi-suit that matched my fur pattern that had red spikes on the shoulders that went down to my chest (like the ones on my arms and legs) and my old symbol that looked like a red-and-black swirl with spikes coming off the top and bottom of it. ~See emblem from Shadow the Hedgehog game for better understanding of the symbol~

A card was on top of it that read, "Shadow, the Chaos suits you asked for have been completed. These suits, as per your orders, are designed to fit snug yet not be too tight for the wearer. The material is breathable and has been tested in every possible scenario with positive results." I continue to read the list of what scenarios the suits passed in and smiled at each one. They can even withstand Chaos form as well as being bullet proof, knife proof, and even laser proof. I took my suit out and saw that there were new Airshoes and gloves with gold bands to replace my worn ones. I put the outfit on and looked it over; it fit me perfectly from gloves to shoes.

I smiled and was about to take it off and go to bed when I noticed that the card had a back side. The back of the card said, "The suit does not need to be removed; on the bottom of the case is the latest in communications and personal technology. It is known as the 'Zero-brace'. The Zero-brace, or ZB for short, is an arm brace that goes on your left arm. It has a holo-communicator as well as a mini-communicator (depending on preference I guess); if you need it, the ZB has it. There is also a function that retracts your flexi-suit and keeps it in the brace until you need it." I took the brace out and looked at it. It was red, the same shade as my fur, and in length it was halfway from my wrist to my elbow.

'This I have got to try' I thought. I put the ZB on and tapped the 'connect' button that was near my wrist. There was a sudden sting as it felt as though the brace was melting my arm. I gasped in shock and pain and was about to rip it off, but just as instantly the pain subsided and I felt great. I looked it over; it seemed like it was part of my arm. I touched it and was surprised to be able to feel my touch. I took out a small packet that was under the ZB that had "Instructions" written on the top. I flipped it to the page where it had the functions and sat with a confused look on my face. I turned the booklet sideways and five folds flooded forward from the packet. They all were about the ZB's functions, much to my discontent. I skimmed through it until I came to what I was searching for; physical attributes. 'Hmm…' I thought, 'it seems to fuse to the hosts' body so that it can display vitals as well as Chaos Energy levels so that we don't use too much and go into a coma or something.'

I heard the door to my quarters open and close along with what sounded like Silver saying, "Wow, this is really nice!"

"You said it," Sonic replied, "Shadow lives in the lap of luxury! That lucky bastard."

I walked into the hallway to see them looking around and then turn their attention to me in my flexi-suit. "Greetings to your new home, for the duration of your training," I said with a smile and crossed arms.

'I don't think they heard me…' I thought when I noticed them looking at my suit and ZB. "Curious as to what this is?" I asked and smiled broader seeing them nod. I uncrossed my arms and pointed to their rooms and responded, "Then check your rooms; I'm not sure which room is whose, but once you open the case, you'll know. It should match your fur pattern."

They walked in the hallway and opened the doors to their rooms. Sonic was the first to open his and saw it was silver. "This one's yours, Silver!" he called out as he turned and walked out the room. Silver heard him just as he was going to open the other case and turned to walk out.

"Thanks, now to try them on," Silver said grinning. Sonic nodded approval while grinning as they entered their correct rooms.

They opened the cases and put the suits on. Silver's matched his fur perfectly and had an aqua stripe down the arms and legs that met on his chest where a circle could be seen which lit up like his gloves when he put it on. Sonic's matched his fur as well, but also covered his furless arms with the blue material with a white-and-grey tornado on the left side of his chest.

Sonic noticed the symbol on his chest and asked, "What is this white tornado looking thing?"

I turned to him and responded, "It is your element, so to speak."

"My element, huh?" he asked.

I nodded and pointed to mine. "The element is what it is that you can do naturally. Mine is from the Black Arms crisis; I caused so much destruction there as well as other times in my past, and this emblem symbolizes my element. I am destruction."

"I think I understand…" Silver joined, "Sonic's is a tornado meaning wind, and mine is my telekinesis."

I nodded and said, "Exactly, though yours is known as 'Construction' since you can make things with your telekinesis. Sonic can control wind and you can control and manipulate objects with your mind." They nodded in understanding and I continued, "And now for a history lesson; do you know how I can change into my Chaos Form?"

They both nodded no and Sonic said, "You use a Chaos Emerald right?"

I nodded and answered, "Half-way. You do need a Chaos Emerald, any Emerald really, but to change with little to no effort is to use your personal Emerald."

"What do you mean by 'personal Emerald'?" Silver asked.

'God it's like teaching kindergarten…' I thought as I replied, "Each of the seven Chaos Emeralds have a natural affinity with an element; the elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Time, Construction, Destruction, and Deception."

"Wait, aren't those-" Sonic began before I interrupted.

"We have faced and defeated the elements of Fire, Water, Time, and Deception. After time passes, there will be individuals born that will have each element inside them; though they will not know it right away."

"Shadow," Silver asked me, "how do you know all of this?"

I closed my eyes and sighed. After a minute or so passed, I opened my eyes and walked pass them to the living room and replied, "Get comfy, it is a long story." Silver and Sonic sat on the sofa as I sat on a recliner that was to the left of them. I sat back and looked at the ceiling as I began to remember that day all those years ago. "After I remembered who I was before fighting Black Doom, I also remembered that this wasn't the first time I had met him. Almost sixty years ago, a few days after I was created, he came into my room after Gerald said that I was stable and a success. I didn't know about Chaos anything for that matter, other than the Zero experiments. In fact, not long after my awakening, I went on the most insane adventure you can imagine…"


	8. Chapter 8

**Yay flashbacks! This won't be the first flashback I do, in fact there should be another three if I'm counting right. I also have a friend who is good at drawing that I'm going to try to draw the flexi-suits from the previous chapter, but no promises! In a few weeks it is going to get really busy for me, so I may not be able to keep the tempo going for posting every Thursday like I had originally planned. Just check regularly and review when you're done.**

**Enjoy the new chapter!**

**Chapter 8: Shadow's First Adventure Part 1**

**Space Colony Ark; Medical Facility, Year 1954**

**Shadow's POV**

I sat patiently as my eyes adjusted to my surroundings. The room was dimly lit by yellow lights along the ceiling in this dark room. I gazed along my own body as I practiced moving my arms and legs. My fur appeared to be black though I couldn't tell in this lighting. I looked up to the door as I heard someone approach. The door opened and flooded the room with light; I could see that I was indeed black, with red as well, but unfortunately that was all I could see thanks to the blinding light.

"Oh dear, I do apologize Shadow. I didn't mean to blind you like this, your eyes are still adjusting?" asked what sounded like an old man, "Cover your eyes and I will turn the lights in here up so that you can see. That way, this incident will not happen again."

I didn't know who he was, so I complied using my hands to cover my closed eyes. I could tell that the room got brighter as the voice said, "Now uncover them, but slowly or you'll be blinded again."

I did as commanded and squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light. I could tell that the room was metal judging by the plating and bolts along the walls. My bed was in the center of the room; I turned around to see a large metal pod with a green glass taking up most of the front of it. My hands were in white gloves with red and black cuffs and a silverfish-grey metal band. My ankles were the same and my shoes were black with white taking up the half from my toes to halfway up the shoes. The sides had a thin red rubberlike material.

"How do you feel?" asked the man that I could tell was to my right judging by where the sound came from. I turned to him and saw he was a rather old man; bald with a large grey mustache. He wore a white lab coat and grey pants with blue glasses with circle lenses. He smiled when I nodded yes. "Good, I was worried about you for a moment, but now that you're awake I am pleased to see you coming along so well."

I fumbled trying to use my mouth for the first time as I asked, "W-w-who…are…y-you…?"

The old man's smile grew as he heard my voice for the first time and replied, "I am the one who created you, my boy. My name is Doctor Gerald Robotnik, but you can just call me Gerald."

"G-ger-ald…?" I struggled starting to get the hang of it.

"That's it, you're getting it now," he replied and pat my shoulder with his right hand saying, "Happy birthday, Shadow the Hedgehog."

After I nodded, he began to teach me how to talk better and how to walk as well. It took me nearly a week before I had everything down, even hand-to-hand combat for 'self-defense' so I was told. During this time, he explained how and why he created me. According to him, I was created using the DNA of an alien known as Black Doom, himself, and a strand of fur from Black Doom said to belong to a powerful hedgehog from another galaxy. We were together for the most part as he told me that he didn't like Doom, but needed his DNA in order for my creation.

"Your purpose," Gerald explained one day as we walked down one of the many hallways of the Ark, "is to protect the people of Earth from any and all threats that she may face in the future. Thanks to Doom's DNA, you will not age, so you can do this single task. Those people are lost in their ways of war and violence. Many of them are evil and will be punished for their deeds, but they are also only human and do not deserve to perish due to forces larger than themselves." He stopped walking which caused me to turn to him. He crouched down and placed his hands on my shoulders as he looked in my red eyes and said, "Shadow, my son, you will fall into darkness one day. With Doom's DNA and immortality comes the urge for destruction. Do not fall for temptations such as killing; if you start, it will be hard to stop."

I placed my hands on his and nodded saying, "I promise, Gerald. I will protect these people with my life if need be." He seemed to relax slightly and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him in return for a minute or so until he drew back and we began walking again.

"Shadow, there is someone I want you to meet," Gerald said with a smile. I didn't know what he was talking about, since I have already met most of the scientists on the station. We came up to a door which slid open to reveal a girl with long blonde hair and a blue and white dress on. "This, Shadow, is my sixteen year old granddaughter, Maria."

Maria heard him talk and turned around in her chair from her desk and smiled seeing us. "Hello grandpa, how are you? And who is your friend?" she asked in the sweetest voice I have ever heard (not saying much since it's the first woman's voice I have heard).

"I am fine, my dear. And this is Shadow, I brought him here to be your friend, in a manner of speaking." Gerald responded smiling.

"Grandpa, I don't need to have you "make" me a friend," she responded with a look that I can assume meant 'Seriously? He MADE me a friend?'

"Sweetheart, I didn't mean it like that!" Gerald countered laughing sheepishly while styling his mustache with his right hand and keeping his left one behind his back. "I simply meant that Shadow will be staying here with us now; I made him to protect the world, and I figured that you could be friends while you live here."

"Hmph…" she said turning away with her arms crossed and her eyes closed, "if you say so, come on in 'Shadow' and make yourself at home."

"Um…thank you?" I responded not really sure how to answer in any other way. I felt myself blush; why, I don't know. I walked in and heard Gerald state from behind, "I need to go and see to the Zero experiments, I'll leave you two here to get to know one another." The door closed behind me as he made his exit. We kept looking at each other for a minute or so just studying one another; she was beautiful with nice curves and an hourglass physique. 'Why do I keep thinking about her like that?!' I shouted in my head and I smiled sheepishly.

Maria's attitude changed almost instantly from hostile to warming as she said, "I'm sorry for how I acted while grandpa was here, but he thinks of me as a fragile object that needs to be kept secure at all times. So, what do you do for fun?" she asked as she pat on an empty chair next to me.

I approached and sat in the chair as she continued to study me intently. "Normally I read to pass the time, but lately I started to learn hand-to-hand combat. At first I thought it was for self-defense, but like Gerald said just then, I'm expected to protect the world so I guess I needed to know how to fight."

"What are you learning?" she asked while still studying me.

"Let's see…Kung-Fu and Karate," I answered, "why do you ask?"

She smiled and stood up while saying, "Close your eyes and turn around until I tell you otherwise, okay?" I didn't understand where she was going with this, but I did as she said regardless. I covered my eyes and turned to face the corner of the room. I could hear her open a door along with a zipper being pulled.

My face flushed when I realized she was undressing. 'Why in the hell is she stripping with me in here?! I could easily leave the room instead…' I thought as I heard her drop something that sounded like cloth on the floor near me. My heart began to beat hard against my chest as I started to feel short in breathe.

"Okay, you can look now!" she called from across the room from the sound of it. I turned around slowly and saw the last thing I expected as she said, "Let's go Shadow, me and you!"

"Y-you want…to…" I started to say before she cut me off by walking up to me and smirking.

"Yes, I want to see what you've got," she said. She was wearing a white uniform with no shoes and a black belt. Her hair was tied up in a pony-tail. "Let's see just how good at martial arts you are," she challenged.

**Ten minutes later, Sparing Arena**

**Maria's POV**

I faced Shadow in the ring with confidence spread across my face. I stood ready for any attack he may throw at me, but he just stood there, in shock I think. "Are you going to fight me, or stand there like a statue?" I said as he seemed to snap out of it.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" he looked down and seemed to blush before saying, "I don't want to hurt you."

I looked at him for a moment and decided to go on the offensive instead. I crouched and jumped giving a quick roundhouse kick to his head. He saw it coming and blocked my attack just in time. I landed on one food and spun around doing a sweep kick. Shadow jumped summersaulting right over me, but it didn't save him from a punch that I threw as he was landing. It caught him off guard and he fell to the floor writhing at the pain.

"First time getting hurt?" I asked playfully as he stood up rubbing his back.

"Maria!" called a voice from behind. I turned to see the combat instructor shouting at me. "Stop playing with him, you have been told about fighting others who are not at your level!"

"Yes sir, sorry sir," I apologized and bowed to him as he bowed in return.

"Don't let me catch you doing this again, you hear me?" he demanded. "If you do, then I will be your next opponent."

I gulped at the thought of fighting the man who taught me how to fight and nodded. He seemed pleased and walked off. I turned to see Shadow looking on at me in confusion so I explained, "Grandpa wanted me to learn self-defense in case something happened, but I took it to the next level and learn five different fighting styles. I just can't fight someone with a knife or gun because I was told not to risk my life like that unless I have to."

"So you knew you would win?" he asked.

"Of course silly, I have been doing this for three years," I answered, "you have been learning for what, three days?"

I sighed as he nodded and asked, "Is there something else we can do besides get my ass kicked?"

I put my hand on my chin in thought and replied, "Hmm…do you like chess?"

**Two months later; Maria's Room**

**Shadow's POV**

Days turned to weeks as Maria and I grew closer to one another. Gerald seemed to be fixated on his work, but always made time to have lunch with us and ask how we are and such. I continued to learn how to fight, and soon found out that I could shoot red 'spears' from my hands as well as teleport. Maria still hasn't forgiven me for throwing one while we were in a batting cage on the recreation deck and splitting the bat she was holding, or for teleporting out of her way each time she tried to hit me with the pieces of bat.

Today, I planned to make this day special for Maria since she was turning eighteen. I already made her a cake as well as having the chefs' help prepare a feast we were in the main cafeteria when I noticed that I hadn't seen Maria all day. She usually calls me on her communicator when she can't find me. I took my communicator out and tried to call her.

"Shadow…in...help…G.U.N…science hall…" was all I heard before static took over and I lost connection.

"G.U.N.? But they are the police force and scientists that work here. What's going on?" I asked out loud before I heard a siren go off. Doors began to seal and the lights all started to flash red. I panicked and remembered where Maria said she was. 'I need to hurry!' I shouted to myself before warping to the Science hall.

**Maria's POV**

I was running as fast as I could through the halls as I could hear the sound of combat boots drawing near. I turned a corner on the right and waited while catching resting while I could. My breath became shallow as I heard them just outside the room I was in.

"Check the rooms and have your guns at the ready men; check your corners and report if you find anything. We need to find the one known as 'Shadow' and put him down," said one of the soldiers to the rest.

I crouched down in the corner and saw the shadow of a soldier in the doorway; luckily the lights in this room were broken so it was pitch black. I kept breathing slowly and tried to not draw attention when there was a light outside the doorway that appeared to come from down the hall. Then I heard a voice that sounded like Shadow call out, "Maria! Where are you?"

The soldier in the doorway turned to him and shouted in his mic, "Found hostile 'Ultimate Life form'! Subject is on my location! Engaging target!"

My heart skipped a beat as I shouted, "RUN SHADOW!"

**Shadow's POV**

"RUN SHADOW!" I heard Maria scream before turning around and seeing a soldier pull his gun out on me. I felt time slow down as he pulled the trigger and shot at me. It was weird at how I could see the bullet coming at me slowly everything but me seemed to be in slow motion. I stepped to the side and the bullet passed by like nothing.

"H-how did you…?" the soldier stuttered before I threw a spear at his gun and destroyed it before warping to him and gave him an uppercut, knocking him out. "Come again zero-two? Subject is where?" called a man from the communicator on the unconscious soldier's shoulder.

I turned to the dark room and saw a little blue and white in the corner. I walked in and whispered, "Maria…?"

I almost fell when she tackled me in a hug, clinging to me while whispering, "I thought he was going to kill you…" She was crying while I hugged her back and stroked her hair.

"There there now, it'll take more than that to take me from you. I'm just glad you're okay," I cooed as she started to calm down.

We both froze when we heard more troops coming. "We need to get out of here," she said while I walked to the door. They were close, coming from the left judging by the sounds.

"I can't warp us both, we'll have to run. There's an escape pod at the end of the hall. Once we get there and on the Earth, I will make Gun pay," I said with a clenched fist looking out the window that was across from us to the planet below.

"Shadow, no," Maria said, "if you chase vengeance, you will get lost in it. Grandpa said to protect them, remember?"

"Yeah, i…wait, where is Gerald?!" I asked turning to her and taking her hand.

I lead us out the room to the right, opposite of where the soldiers were coming from. "I can hear them ahead!" one shouted from behind.

"He was taken prisoner by the soldiers when they first came here. He's going to be in jail for a while, so they said," Maria responded while running behind me still holding my hand.

"I see," I said feeling sad that this has happened all at once, and on Maria's birthday too. "Regardless, we need to get off the station."

"Shadow, I can't and you know that," she stated in a depressed tone, "you know as well as I do that my immune system isn't good enough for me to live down there. That's why I'm here to begin with!"

"Then I'll stay and fight, I can't leave you here!" I shouted back with tears in my eyes. We arrived at the room with escape pod and I closed the door behind us. I used a spear to destroy the console so that they can't open it without prying it open. "Get back, Maria!" I commanded to her while we could hear the soldiers beating on the door with possibly a battering ram.

I backed up to the center of the room and was about to turn around to Maria when a glass cylinder slammed down around me, trapping me inside the tube. I was caught off guard by it and beat on it trying to get out. I turned to see Maria standing at a console with the controls for the prison I was standing in. "You know what this is, Shadow," Maria said with tears streaming down her face.

"Maria…no…" I said with fresh tears in my eyes, "Why? Why should I get to escape but you can't? What am I supposed to do alone?"

"Shadow, protect them. Keep the earth safe; give them a chance to be happy," she said while smiling through the tears. The door then was knocked off the hinges as three soldiers rushed in. The one in the lead aimed his gun at Maria as the other two aimed at me. The two aiming at me opened fire just to have them deflected and fall to the ground.

"Bulletproof, eh?" asked the leader as he kept his pistol towards Maria, "Open the case and let us end him, or we'll end you as well.

She grinned and pressed a red button that triggered a countdown for my pod to launch. Then my heart sank when I watched the leader shoot her in the stomach. Maria screamed in agony as the soldier shouted, "Make the countdown stop, now!"

I cried out in rage and stabbed at the pod with spears that only shattered on impact. "S-shadow…" I heard her call as she gripped the console for support. Blood was pouring out her wound as she kept smiling at me with blood starting to trickle out her mouth. She coughed and fell to her knees as she tried to remain standing.

"Men, try to stop this pod from launching!" the leader directed. They all began to search for the button to stop the launch.

I could see from this point of view that Maria's hand was covering the button so that they couldn't see it. Then she said in a faint whisper as the countdown hit the last ten seconds, "Shadow…give them a chance…to be happy…"

"MARIA!" I shouted with all my strength as the timer hit three.

Maria smiled and waved while saying, "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog…"

I beat on the pod one more time before I heard it release the lock and launch me towards the blue and green planet. I screamed, "MARIAAAAA!" with tears streaming down my face as I kept my eyes glued on the Space Colony that had been my home since 'birth'. I fell back on my ass and curled into a ball as I continued to cry thinking 'Why today? Today was her birthday of all days, it's just not right…'

My pod started to shake violently as I approached the planet. I stood up weakly propping my hands on the sides so not to fall and tilted my head down to the rapidly approaching scenery of a jungle. 'This is going to tickle…' I braced myself for impact when suddenly-

**Space Colony Ark; Shadow's Quarters, Current Time**

"Shadow, sir!" called one of the soldiers outside my quarters as he knocked on the door.

"What do you want?! This better be important to interrupt me at this hour!" I shouted, furious that he had to knock now just as I was telling my story. Silver shivered slightly at my anger, I assume.

"Calm down Shadow, I'm sure it's important," Sonic said with a smile and called out to the soldier, "let's hear it; what is the situation?"

The soldier was terrified of Shadow as we heard him gulp loudly before stating, "Sir, satelites have picked up Eggman heading towards Angel Island, as well as a new robot of his already on scene. A plane carrying Tails, Knuckles, Espio, Vector, and Charmy has also appeared and are currently engaged with the robot at the shrine of the Master Emerald."

"We have to help them!" Sonic concluded while standing and reaching for his Chaos Emerald. I quickly stood up and stopped him by grabbing his arms and nodding 'no'. "Well what do we do then, huh?" he asked, obviously worried about his friends.

I replied, "I have someone else for this task, relax." Sonic wasn't phased by my answer, but I didn't care. "Sonic, you and Silver cannot leave until you have mastered what I have to teach. Do you hear me?"

"What makes you say that?" Sonic asked me as he sat back down on the edge of the couch with his arms on his knees.

"History says that every time one of us three appear and engage our enemies before we had the power to fully defeat them rather than let them escape, the situation drastically gets worse," I explained to them. Silver nodded in agreement, seeing as he fought Iblis for years, I expected him to understand why he knows what I am saying.

Sonic, however, continued to argue and countered, "Oh really? Name one time I was in over my head!"

I sat back and crossed my arms behind my head while propping my feet up in the recliner and listed, "Let's see…when you attacked the Time Eater head-on without any Emeralds was one. When you attacked Eggman's space station in 2008 was another; and WITH the seven Chaos Emeralds he still defeated you, and turned you into a Were-hog too if memory serves."

He blushed at my last comment and replied, "Eggman didn't do that to me, I told you already! It was the influence of Dark Gaia!"

"Regardless, you two will stay here while our robot expert deals with the situation; Soldier, send Metal!" I shouted to the man outside.

"Yes sir!" he replied and ran off while talking on his radio.

"Wait, 'Metal'?" Sonic asked. Silver also had a curious expression.

I closed my eyes and sighed while replying, "Yes, 'Metal'. You should know him well, Sonic."

Sonic's eyes went wide and he shot up and over to me while grabbing my shirt and yanking me up to look in his face. I opened my eyes slowly, annoyed by his distrust in me. "Please tell me you don't mean Metal Sonic, please!"

I warped out of his grasp and reappeared behind him with our backs to one another. "Yes, that one. Stop worrying, he is with us. We removed Eggman's 'kill Sonic and his friends' programming. He has his own consciousness and chose to fight against Eggman with us. He helped make our suits and this arm-brace too; trust me, Sonic, okay?" On this note I turned to face him the same as he did to me. Silver somehow got some popcorn and was eating it while watching us argue.

Sonic and I both stared daggers at him and asked at the same time, "Enjoying yourself, Silver?"

He almost choked on his food while put it up and replied with a terrified expression, "N-n-not at all! I'm, uh, gonna go to bed now. Maybe you can finish your story tomorrow, Shadow? Good! Well good night guys!" He didn't give us any time to answer him or even tell him we were joking before he dashed in his room and closed the door.

Sonic turned to me and we both laughed lightly at Silver's fear. "Fine, I trust you Shadow. I know you wouldn't do something that could hurt our friends," Sonic said with a smile.

"Good, now let's follow Silver's advice and hit the hay; I'm exhausted and I'm sure you are too," I offered.

"Sounds good to me," Sonic said as he ran off to his room and closed the door.

I walked to my own room and closed my door. I slid under the red sheet and black comforter as the exhaustion from the past days hit me all at once and I passed out to sweet slumber.


	9. Chapter 9

**Greetings all who are reading this! I'm going ahead and saying that I will continue Shadow's story in Chapter 10, then alternate to Angel Island. For the most part, it will be with Ark on even chapters and Soleanna/Angel Island on odd ones with overlapping here and there. Also, what do you, the readers, want to be done with Talon? I don't know how to do poles and honestly don't have time to make one; so please, review what you want done as well as pm me for details if you want to know more about the story or if something doesn't make sense to you. I'm also trying to get a friend of mine to draw some of the characters/suits from my story so you, the readers, can see as well as read to help visualize what's going on.**

**As always, enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 9: Metal Madness**

**Space Colony Ark, Eclipse Cannon Control Room; 5 Minutes before Shadow's orders**

**Metal's POV**

"Simons, reroute 15% power from the main cannon to the defensive shields surrounding it. That will leave the cannon with 35% power with 65% for shielding; better to keep it safe and pack a softer punch than to press our luck with weak defenses and a strong blast," I ordered while typing commands on the main console. It had been almost a year since Gun removed Eggman's extermination software that had kept me 'evil' for all these years. 'I may want to apologize to Sonic as well…' I pondered between keystrokes.

"Shields enhanced, Metal," replied Simons after making my adjustments, "but what made you want to suddenly increase the cannon's defensive shielding? There hasn't been an attempt on the Ark since the Black Arms incident years ago."

I kept my red optical lens on the monitor as my 'fingers' flew across the keyboard and answered, "Because I detected a large disturbance below near the location known as 'Dusty Desert' of Soleanna." I pressed the enter key and the screen lit up green on all levels indicating that the power distribution was accepted and added to the cannon's default programming.

Simons was about to say something else when his radio began buzzing. We both looked at it as a voice called out stating, "Simons, you are to deploy Metal to Angel Island. One of Eggman's mechas has been spotted and engaged by five friendlies. Also, the general wants to implement Metal's Zero-upgrades. Over and out"

I crossed my arms and tilted my head to the side slightly from curiosity as I asked, "What 'upgrades'?"

Simons smiled and turned to leave the room. "You know of Chaos Zero, right?" he asked me as I began to follow him out the control room and down the hall to what I remember to be the offensive and defense development wing.

"Yes, he is an aquatic embodiment of Chaos Energy, correct? He was sealed inside the Master Emerald along with a female echidna known as Tikal," I responded.

He nodded as we turned left and approached a door on the right labeled 'Metal R&D'. "You're right; however we gathered a little information about him. With that info, we were able to reverse engineer equipment based off of the soquidic properties he has. We've been experimenting with it for years now and only recently discovered how to use it."

"I see, so you made something for me using this?" I questioned as I followed him into the large room. The room was square, like most of the rooms on the Ark, with computers lining the left and right hand side walls with a spherical glass-walled room in the center. Inside this room was a pedestal with a chrome ball floating just above it. "How do I use a ball? Kick it?" I asked a nearby scientist as I approached the glass.

I laid my right 'hand' on the glass as the scientist responded, "No sir. This is no ordinary ball. Jeffery, open the door and let Metal enter the chamber."

The mentioned scientist did as instructed and pressed a button that made some of the glass melt to reveal an entrance. I looked to Simons and would have smiled if I had a mouth as he nodded grinning. Seeing as everyone was eager for me to continue on, I entered the chamber and the glass melted behind me to seal me inside with the ball.

I was about to attack the glass in fear that they were going to try to destroy me but before I did anything Simons shouted flailing his arms, "Don't move, Metal! This is for our protection; remember what I said earlier, this is still an experiment. We won't hurt you in any way, I promise."

I nodded and turned back to the ball. It slowly floated towards me as I asked, "So what do I do? Throw it?"

The scientist who was in command stated, "You take command of the ball. Reach your hand out and say 'come'. From there, all commands you issue it will be mentally transmitted to it."

I didn't quite understand what he meant by 'mentally transmitted' but complied regardless. I raised my right 'hand' to the ball and shouted, "Come!" instantly, the ball came alive and rushed to me like silver water. It caught me off guard and I crossed my arms as the chrome liquid covered my entire body.

"It's working, Jeffery!" I could hear Simons shout in joy, "Look, it completely covered him. Now, what happens next?"

Jeffery started to say something but the head scientist interrupted saying, "He changes from a simple machine into a living organism made of metal. He will keep his color scheme, I think, and gain human/Mobian senses like smell, touch, and such."

'I'll become…alive?!' I thought before something began to happen. The soquid started to condense and squeeze me as I stood frozen in it. Then suddenly I felt something all along my body; a feeling I understand to be 'cold'. Immediately afterward, I felt a sharp pain from my head that ran across all of my body. I tried to move to no avail and began to scream in agony. Unfortunately, my cries were muffled by the soquid.

**Simons' POV**

"Sir, did you hear Metal say something?" I asked the head scientist as the soquid began to ripple around Metal's body; it also appeared to glow grey.

The scientist chuckled and replied, "Impossible, Metal is undergoing transformation at the moment, and all he should be able to do is stand there and wait just as we are here."

I sighed and turned back to the glass chamber as the dull grey glow slowly became a vibrant silver shine. The room began to shake as the soquid became blinding chrome, causing us to turn away. The computers started to spark and shut down as the glass cracked. "What's going on?!" I shouted as everyone in the room got to cover. I hid behind a metal pillar opposite of the entrance I came in along with Jeffery and the head scientist.

Jeffery shouted in response, "The soquid is completing the fusion process; however there may be a small EMP emitted from it once it's done!"

"Like I said earlier; all we can do is wait!" shouted the head scientist.

Suddenly, there was a large sound of electricity surging as the EMP was released. "GET DOWN!" I shouted as I covered my face with my arms, Jeffery covered his head with his hands in fear, and the head scientist closed his eyes and ducked.

The room was filled with a silver light as anything that ran off electricity (except for my gear) suddenly exploded in a surge of power; even the glass shattered and rained all across the room.

**Metal's POV**

I stood in the center of the room with my arms still crossing my face and my ocular lens closed. Something was different, but what? And what was that noise just now? I also started to feel light headed as I stood there like something in my chest was burning. I fell to my hands and knees as I heard the head scientist shout, "Metal, open your mouth and breathe for Christ sake!"

I was trying to adjust to this change as I did as instructed. I inhaled for the first time and my eyes shot open from shock. "I'm…alive?" I questioned and looked around with my new eyes. The room was destroyed, my doing probably, and glass was scattered around the room along with papers and pieces of computers. I stood up shakily and smiled when I saw Simons approaching with a large grin. "Simons, I'm alive!" I shouted in excitement and felt him place his left hand on my right shoulder.

"Yes, yes you are," he replied with tears in his eyes.

I looked at him quizzically and asked, "Why are you crying?"

He wiped his tears and said, "Because Eggman didn't create you; I did." My expression went from curious to shock. Before I could say anything, he continued, "I made you so that you could help Sonic protect the world; he is only one hedgehog after all. But before I could activate your primary programming, Eggman kidnapped you and implanted a virus in my programming, causing you to be evil and attack Sonic rather than help him. Now after all those years of creating a program to delete Eggman's, saving you, making repairs to you, and helping you discover yourself, I am proud to see my 'son' before me alive."

His words touched me in my chest; a tingling feeling that made my eyes water and my breaths became shallow. I pulled him into a hug and said sincerely, "Thank you, 'dad'."

We stayed like this for ten minutes or so before his radio buzzed again stating, "Simons, did you send Metal yet?!"

He pulled back and replied into the receiver, "Not yet, I need to give him something first."

"Well hurry the hell up, our friendlies are getting creamed! Over and out." the soldier shouted through the radio.

Simons reached into his back pocket and pulled out the last thing I expected to see; a Chaos Emerald! "Our research, along with Shadow's personal experience (Chapter 11), suggests that this Emerald is the gem for the Element of Water. If it lights up just by you holding it, then you are that Element."

He extended the silver Chaos Emerald to me and I took it in my right hand. I turned blinked a few times and gazed into the Emerald. Then from the center of the Emerald came a bright silver shine as I embraced it. Simons as well as everyone who overheard our conversation stared in awe at me and the Emerald.

"Metal the Hedgehog," Simons said to me catching my attention, "go to Angel Island and protect our friends. And please be careful." He gave me another quick hug and then backed away. I nodded smiling and tossed the Emerald up.

Just as it came back down I caught it and shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!" The room was flushed in a white light as I warped out and down towards Earth. With only one thought on my mind; 'Who are these friends I'm going to save?'

**Espio's POV**

The android, in the form of Knuckles, punched me in the side. The impact shot me into the stone pedestal of the shrine. I coughed up a little blood from the impact and fell to my knees. My left arm felt broke and my right hand was rested on my left side where it made contact. My right eye was closed and my left one half open as I barely stayed conscious. The android morphed into my form and drew a kunai in its right hand. I couldn't move from my injuries and began to breathe harder. 'Is this it?' I asked myself and bowed my head.

I sighed and looked back in my life as I heard the mecha approach me slowly. I took another deep breath, fell to my right side, and kept my eyes glued on the mecha. Then out the corner of my eye I saw Vector lunge at my copy. He slammed both his fists on its head, causing it to completely go underground. He then approached me and carefully picked me up. I wheezed as he ran into the forest with Charmy at his right side.

"I went to get help after I got back up from the hit," Charmy explained to me as we weaved our way through the woods.

"Tails is watching Knuckles and tending to his wounds," Vector spoke up, "and as soon as we get back, we're getting out of here. That android is too strong for us."

"Y-yeah…" I said weakly before Charmy told me to hush to save my strength.

We reached a clearing where Tails stood next to his plane. "Vector, is Espio okay?" he asked seeing my in Vector's arms.

"Yeah, just a little banged up is all," he responded with a grin, "I guess ninja-boy got caught off guard, huh?"

I sensed his teasing and grinned while nodding despite the pain. "Good; Knuckles is already in the Tornado resting. We need to get out of here before that android finds us," Tails said with concern written across his face.

Vector sat me next to Knuckles the same time that Tails got in the pilot's seat and Charmy took his seat. Tails left the windscreen open so that we all could fit and lifted off. I turned to see Vector looking down at the clearing we were in and say, "It found us and changed into Charmy; in a few seconds it will be up here."

"Tails, go faster!" Charmy called out to Tails.

I heard Tails complain to the computer and call back saying, "I can't with the windscreen up!"

"Well then, close it!" Charmy countered.

"I can't with Vector standing up, and there's no room for him to sit with Knuckles and Espio injured laying down," Tails responded.

I turned from Charmy and Tails arguing to Vector, who was already looking at me smiling. He winked and I knew exactly what he was planning. He leaned back and dropped off the plane just as I shot up and reached my arm out shouting, "NO, VECTOR!"

I could hear him shout, "Close it and go! I'll hold him off!" Before I could do anything more, Tails closed the screen and sped off.

"Go back!" I shouted at him.

"He's doing this so we can get away; I'm sorry, Espio," Tails responded downheartedly.

The pain from sitting up caught up with me and was too much for me to take. I sighed and blacked out next to Knuckles who was already passed out from his own injuries.

**Vector's POV**

I spread my arms and legs as I adjusted myself towards the android it stayed in the form of Charmy and turned its stinger towards me. I quickly reached out with my right hand and grabbed the android's head; luckily my arms are longer than the stinger's reach. I then flicked it around and grabbed the wings with my left hand while still holding the head and used my left foot to push the stinger away from me. We rolled through the air as we descended towards the clearing before I adjusted us to fall with him below me.

The android was still in Charmy's form as we neared the ground until it suddenly changed to Espio and kicked me off with its right foot. It then disappeared like Espio; I blew a bubble with my gum and safely descended to the clearing. As soon as I landed, I decided to run back to the shrine to try and see what was so important about it.

After a few minutes of trekking through the woods, I reached the shrine of the Master Emerald. It seemed like the android wasn't here, so I took this time to look around. I approached the pedestal that we first found it scanning; the fourth one. I gently ran my left hand down the carvings trying to find something of interest before I heard a noise to my left.

The noise said, "Scan complete; Vector the Crocodile. Commence transformation."

I turned to see a white version of me staring me down with its red 'eyes'. I chuckled and said, "Wow, look at that sexy beast; not as good as the original, but a damn close second!" I punched my left hand with my right warming up and walked towards it slowly while saying, "I don't know why you came here, but I'm about to give you a reason to leave."

It jumped at me and punched with its right hand. I dodged to the left and grabbed its arm. I then swung and slammed the android down face first in the dirt. I then dislocated the arm while the android was down. 'Just to make sure…' I thought to myself before bending down and biting the arm off and tossing it to the side. After that I got down on one knee and started to beat the head into the ground repeatedly.

"This is for Knuckles, Charmy, and Espio!" I shouted before slamming both my hands on the back, which caused it to shatter under my strength. The android did not move as I stood up, and I smiled at my work. "I don't like to fight like that, but you left me no choice," I said as I turned and started to walk off towards the woods so I could wait for Tails to come back.

As I took out my phone and called Tails, I turned to see the android standing with a collapsed back, no right arm, and flat head. I told Tails to meet me back at the clearing after he dropped the others off at his house and hung up. I then chuckled and said, "Even when defeated, you don't give up. I can't blame you, programmed to fight or die and all." I said as the android took a step towards me. I crossed my arms and yawned.

Then the android's body began to light up. I uncrossed my arms and prepared myself for the worse. The arm I ripped off seemed to melt into a white liquid and move back to the android.

"What the-" I started to say before I noticed that it started to morph into a hedgehog. I was frozen in fear when I saw that the hedgehog it was morphing into had six downward-curved spikes. "H-how are you changing into Sonic?! He's not even here!"

"Hohoho! That's because he already had Sonic's information inside his databanks from yours truly!" boasted a voice from behind me. I turned to see Eggman sporting a black and blue jacket as he stood in his transport that stayed a safe distance from me, much to his luck.

"Eggman, why did you send that thing here?! Answer me or I'll make you look like your jacket!" I shouted angrily at him while pointing at the white Sonic counterpart.

He smiled and said, "That is my own concern. Your concern should be for your safety rather than my interests." He then pressed a button that sent seven small drones from the transport to the pedestals. "But if you must know, I am conducting research."

"Research for what?" I asked while stalling. I know I can't take a robotic Sonic, but I had to at least wait until Tails gets back. "And what made you lose the old red and gold?"

"I needed a change in pace, and colors seemed to do the trick," he responded while showing off his jacket that I don't really give a shit about, "and as for my research, my answer is this; if you can survive my android, Copycat, then I'll tell you."

Before I could say anything else, Copycat dashed to me and ran circles around me. 'He is almost as fast as Sonic' I thought as I felt myself be lifted off the ground in a white tornado. I flailed my arms and legs trying to straighten myself before I saw a white and red ball heading straight towards me at insane speeds. I was barely able to dodge it as I saw that Copycat was using the tornado to hide itself before shooting at me like a cannonball.

Copycat then slammed into my back, causing us both to launch out the tornado and crash into the ground. The impact left a fair sized crater as I tried to push myself up. "I…will not…die here," I said weakly as I barely got to my feet. My arms were hanging limply and my head was tilted down; my arms aren't broken, just sore from hitting the ground at breakneck speeds. I looked up slowly and saw Copycat charging a spindash. I sighed and closed my eyes. I said a quick prayer and braced myself when I heard him launch at me.

There were suddenly two things that happened at the same time; there was a blinding white light and the thundering sound of Copycat's spindash making contact. When the light dimmed, I saw that it wasn't me that he made contact with. Standing in front of me was a blue hedgehog with his arms extended holding the still spinning Copycat. "Sonic?" I asked.

I looked closely and noticed that the blue hedgehog only had three spikes instead of six, only they were long like Silver's. His gloves were yellow and his shoes were a yellow version of Sonic's. He also had grey cuffs on his gloves and socks that looked like Shadow's gold ones. He turned to me and smiled. His chest was plain like Sonic's; however, everywhere that skin should have been was instead a chrome metallic material. He had eyes that were a deeper shade of red than Shadow's (Shadow has red-orange eyes) and he said, "Close but not quite."

"WHAT?! Where do these hedgehogs keep appearing from?! First an orange one, now this Metal Sonic knock off!" Eggman roared. "Copycat, get back here!" he commanded.

The mysterious hedgehog turned back to Eggman and said, "Here!" before kicking Copycat. The impact was like the striking of swords as metal met metal. Copycat, still in the ball, was launched into the forest; taking out a few trees in the process. "And by the way, Eggman, I am no knock off; I am Metal Sonic reborn as Metal the Hedgehog!" he called out with his arms crossed in front of him. He turned to me and asked, "Vector, are you okay?"

I was still a bit stunned at everything that was happening but managed to nod. Metal seemed to slightly relax before placing his right hand on my left shoulder. His eyes lit up slightly as he said, "Nothing broken, thank God, but you need to rest." He turned to Eggman and said, "Wait there for a second." He then shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!" and warped us away and a flash of white.

**Tails' Workshop; 5 minutes before Vector's rescue**

**Tails' POV**

Charmy and I were tending to Espio and Knuckles' injuries as best we could. "This isn't good, we need to get them to Station Square, but the Tornado is low on fuel from going to Angel Island and back. I know I should have put more in beforehand!" I shouted blaming myself.

"Calm down, buddy!" Charmy piped up, "they'll be okay until you can refuel and take off!"

"True but that would take-" a white light cut me off. The light came from the outside; I ran out with Charmy close behind to find a banged up Vector held up by a mysterious blue hedgehog. I got a closer look and gasped shouting, "METAL SONIC?!"

He chuckled and said, "Calm down, Tails. I'm a good guy; I've been with Gun for over a year now. My name is Metal the Hedgehog now; and as for how I look, I'll explain it later. Where are the others?"

I was still uncertain but decided to side with him since he was helping. I responded, "Inside, come on." We all walked back inside and Metal looked them over with his glowing red eyes.

"Knuckles has a broken arm, two broken ribs, and a fractured leg. Espio has three broken ribs, a dislocated arm, a hairline fracture on his other arm, and sprained ankles. They both also have some internal bleeding around the lungs," he stated after his eyes stopped glowing. As I stared in awe at his analysis, he continued, "I'm still trying to figure out my abilities, but I think I can help all three of you."

Metal set Vector on the sofa and extended his hands out; left hand to Vector, and right one to Knuckles and Espio. His hands started to glisten with silver water and three thin lines shot from his hands and landed on the left arm of each of my three injured friends. He then put his hands together and separated them slowly, which created a small silver bubble of water that floated above the floor. He stood up, smiling, and snapped his fingers. As he did so, the bubble split into three with a silver line connected to it.

"There," Metal said as he wiped his brow, "When the ball completely disappears, they should be healed of all injuries except for soreness from where the injury was."

"Wow, thanks Metal," I said while smiling.

"Yeah, that was cool! Do me next! Do me next!" Charmy paraded around the room.

Metal's eyes lit up and looked at Charmy before saying, "You don't need healing little guy, but when you do I will; promise." He winked at Charmy to show he meant what he said. Charmy lit up in excitement and buzzed about the room as Metal continued, "Now I need to get back to Angel Island and take care of that Android. Call Rouge and let her know what's happening, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing," I responded as I took my phone out and dialed her number, "and Metal?"

He looked at me in question and replied, "Yes, Tails?"

I smiled at him and said, "Thank you. You know, even though you were made to be like Sonic physically, you have a heart to match his too."

He smiled and I think that I saw a tear in his eye too when he turned his back to me and said, "I appreciate it, really I do. I'll be back as soon as I'm finished with Eggman." He raised his right hand and gave me a thumbs-up before teleporting in a flash of white.

I held my phone up as I heard Rouge say, "Tails, what's wrong honey? Is everything alright; it better be for calling me right when I start to go to bed!"

I replied, "Sorry to bother you but it's an emergency! Eggman and some copy-android is at Angel Island; Knuckles, Espio, and Vector are hurt really bad!"

"You've got to be kidding me?! Geez, first Gun doesn't tell me about Soleanna, and now this!"

"What happened in Soleanna?" I asked curiously. I know it's a kingdom whose industry is marine based, but other than that I know nothing of it.

She seemed to notice that she was complaining out loud and defended herself saying, "Don't worry about that, it's nothing. As for the other boys; did you see to them?"

"Yeah, about that; you may want to come over so we can talk about that. The girls can come too, there's plenty of room," I answered.

"Is it really THAT important?" she argued.

"You don't know the half of it," I assured her.

After a few seconds of what I assume to be her telling the others, she told me, "Alright, we'll catch the next train. And make sure that you give me a damn good reason when I get there, got it cutie?"

I thanked her and hung up; my attention turned to Knuckles and Espio asleep on pallets on the floor, then Vector lounged on the couch behind them. "I really hope these chrome balls work, Charmy," I said out loud.

Charmy flew next to me and said, "Don't worry, Metal wouldn't let us down! He is so cool, just like Sonic; I believe in him!"

I smiled at his optimism and said, "Yeah, just like Sonic…"


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! Sorry for the wait, but I've been having computer problems lately. That, and the fact that I needed a break from typing after all the typing I had to do for college for the past two weeks. So, is anyone else playing Injustice: Gods Among Us? I love that game! This chapter, as well as Chapter 11, will be slightly shorter than most of the chapters I've been uploading lately. I will continue Shadow's flashback on Chapter 12; speaking of Shadow, I am meaning to change his eye color while he is in his Chaos Form from red to green (anyone in Chaos Form will have eye colors that match their Chaos Emerald) If anyone decides to read back to see if I did or not, please review to let me know. I have been busy lately and may forget to do it. If I forget to change it in the actual story, just know that it's supposed to be green not red while in Chaos Form.**

**My friend and I are currently working on drawings for Shadow, Sonic, and Silver in their Zero-tech suits, as soon as we finish any of them, I will upload them to my pictures on this site.**

**As always, enjoy the chapter and review if you have any advice or ideas. I am open to anything and will take it into consideration, as well as add the idea somewhere in a future chapter!**

**Chapter 10: Friendly Chat**

**Space Colony Ark; Sonic's Quarters, Minutes after Metal's Healing**

**Sonic's POV**

I smiled as I opened the case containing my new suit Gun gave me. It picked up the long-sleeved shirt and inspected the designs on it; it was a slightly darker shade of blue than my fur with a tan stripe that stretched from the tip of the sleeve to the base of the shirt. The pants also had the stripe continue down to the bottom of the leg. There were also new shoes (black where mine are red), gloves (bright white), and sapphire colored cuffs for both of them (like Shadow's gold ones from the looks of it).

"Sweet, something different for a change," I said aloud as I slid the clothes on. They felt like silk; breathable with flexibility to boot. After I finished getting dressed, I noticed something that resembled an arm-brace with a label titled, "Zero-tech."

I picked the brace up and gave it a quick look-over before strapping it on my left arm and pressing a button labeled, "Connect." Instantly there was a sharp pain that made me yelp and try to remove it; only to find that it began to meld with my skin. I almost panicked until I noticed that there was no more pain almost as soon as it finished fusing with my arm. Confused, I tapped my arm a few times where the brace had been. I was surprised to find that I could feel each touch, along with my arm lighting up. I tapped a symbol that looked like a window; instantly, a holo-screen appeared over my arm that the brace was before it fused with me. "Amazing," I whispered, "it's a part of me now. And judging by the symbols," I tapped the symbol for clothing and my suit disappeared, "it seems that my suit is a part of me too; even the shoes change!" I laughed out loud at how awesome it was to see my new black shoes fade to red when I pressed that specific symbol.

I then spent the next hour fiddling around with the holo-screen. With it, I could browse the internet, as well as make custom clothing from sleeveless tees and gym shorts to thick winter coats and overalls. I decided that I would keep it on a long-sleeve hooded pull-over jacket with the hood back and a white tee underneath it; I noticed that there was also a swirling silver design that resembled a tornado. 'If I'm the Wind Element, then that makes sense,' I deduced to myself as I finished with my suits torso layout.

'Shadow and Silver probably like their suits designs too,' I thought as I designed my lower suit layout. I was suiting myself up by making my pants become a pair of cargos (with the Velcro pockets on the sides) with a slightly darker blue than my fur (just like my jacket) with a tan stripe on the side that lined up with my jackets stripe. I kept my blue Chaos Emerald on the right pocket on my cargos.

I was about to call it a night and try to get some rest for Shadow's next boot camp session until I heard a loud scream come from across the hall inside Silver's room. Before I could even stand from my bed, both the door to my room and I was lit up in an aqua aura. I was levitated off the bed and my door was flung open; I was then yanked through the two open doors and into Silver's room with the doors closing behind me.

I was then slammed against the closed door, with the aura constricting my movements, and Silver seemed to appear out of nowhere in my face while screaming, "HOW DO I GET IT OFF?!" His face was filled with panic.

Both confused of his question and still in shock of what just happened, I asked shakily, "W-w-what do you m-mean…?"

"THE SUIT, THE BRACE, AND THE SHOES; HOW DO I GET THEM OFF?!" he continued to shout.

"IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE FUCK UP I AM GOING TO STAB ONE OF MY CHAOS SPEARS SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL CHOKE ON IT!" we both heard through rumbling walls as it appeared that Silver's outburst woke Shadow.

"Hehe; um, sorry, Shadow!" I apologized for Silver. We both could hear him grumbling in annoyance at being woken up before it was quiet again. "Silver, how bout you put me down and we talk, okay?" I asked in a hushed tone so not to disturb Shadow again.

He then looked in another direction while dropping the field around me and letting me move on my own accord again. "I'm sorry, Sonic, but I can't take this suit off; the shirt, pants, shoes, or brace," he explained. I sighed when I realized that this was all that the problem was.

"It's alright, buddy," I said while patting him on the shoulder. I looked down at his suit, which was dull gold and grey with an aqua light line coming from the four bracelets he wore to the center of his chest where it formed a large circle like the ones on his gloves; the grey on his suit was just outside the aqua lines and the dull gold took up the rest of the suit. "As for taking it off, you can't; it's a part of you now, but you can change how you look if you don't like what you're wearing," I explained.

"Really; how do I do that?" he asked. We spent two hours going into detail about how to change our outfits, tweak what we're already wearing, and to remove what we're wearing (no homo).

"Aaaand that's about all that I know," I concluded. I dismissed my holo-screen and looked up to see him still fiddling around with the clothing options.

"Ugh, I can't decide on anything!" he complained while switching from an open light jacket style to a closed hooded jacket to a leather jacket to back to the original open light jacket style before throwing his hands up and falling back on his bed while sighing in defeat.

"Ya know, this style suits you; I would keep it," I assured him while leaning back in my chair that was at the foot of his bed. His t-shirt under the jacket was grey with a bright aqua light circle on the chest.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said while crossing his arms behind his head. "So, you and Amy are together now?" he said out of the blue.

I almost fell out my chair at the sudden change of topic and replied, "Um, yeah. We got together not long after myself and I defeated the Time Eater."

He turned his head towards me and asked, "How did you get the courage to give her a chance, or is it just a 'change in pace'?"

"Oh har har har, very funny, smartass," I retorted at him referring to when Eggman constantly shouted 'How about a change in pace?!' at me during the fight with the Egg Dragoon.

He snickered and egged me on by saying, "Oh come on, Sonic, I was just pulling your leg. But seriously, how did you two get together? Were you just tired of running?"

I sighed and sat back in my chair. I thought back to that very day and told him, "In a way, yeah I was tired of running. She had followed me to the ends of the earth most of her life; or at least ever since she met me." Silver perked up on his bed and started to pay more attention to what I said as I continued. "But about three weeks ago, which was also the second month after Eggman's 'Time Eater' backfired on him, she stopped chasing me," as I reminisced I tilted my head up to the ceiling, becoming lost in my memory of that day, "Naturally, I was worried that something had happened to her; otherwise she would be up my ass like she always was, so I decided to check up on her in Station Square. At the time, she had an apartment not far from City Hall; I knew that because of the few times I caught the business end of her hammer from a smartass remark and she brought me to her room to recover and apologize."

Silver and I both laughed as he said, "So let me get this straight, you were unconscious in her house? You don't think she…"

"Would ya stop being a perv; of course she didn't do anything like THAT," I protested.

"Whatever," he responded, "anyways, you were saying?"

"Alright, let's see…" I agreed while remembering where I left off. "Like I was saying, I remembered where she lived and decided to swing by. When I got there, she was just leaving; to go shopping I guess. I asked her how she was and she said she was fine, ya know, how usual conversations go. But something was different; she wasn't all over me or anything like that, it was almost like she didn't even care about me anymore."

"And that made you like her?" Silver guessed.

"Well, I guess you can say that," I responded sheepishly while smiling, "but I think it was that I finally started to notice how beautiful she is. She also seemed a little more mature at the time; when I asked why she wasn't following me around anymore, she told me that she had a life to live too and she didn't want to spend it following a dream. Naturally, I was caught off-guard. I decided to make my move later that night to see if she was still interested in me. When she agreed, our feelings turned out to be mutual."

"So…ever since, you two have been together, like dating?" Silver asked. He seemed to be blushing slightly, but at what I can't say for sure.

"Uh, well yeah, ever since I asked her to dinner that night, why?" I asked him, wondering where he was going with this.

Silver was obviously uncomfortable about revealing his intentions, but finally spoke up by stating, "Well, I've kinda had this thing for Blaze. She's just so smart and beautiful; even how she is shy around new friends she makes, like your friends. I want to be with her like how you and Amy are."

I smiled and told him, "Well, first things first, you have to ask her how she feels. To be honest, we don't really act like normal couples."

"What do you mean, Sonic?" he asked, confused by what I meant.

"Well, we go out to eat every now and then; we don't hang on each other every waking minute of the day or even say that we love each other very often," I explained.

"Isn't that how all couples are?" he continued to question me.

"Yeah, I think; remember, this is my first actual relationship. Why don't you ask Rouge about this stuff when you get the chance? She knows more than I do about relationships," I suggested.

Silver smiled and stood from his bed. He began to stretch while yawning and replied, "I guess you're right, I will in a few days or so. Good night Sonic." He then encased himself in his aura.

"Good night Silver. Wait, why are you-" I was interrupted by Silver flinging me back to my room and closing the doors behind me. I was dropped three feet above my bed face first. After a few bounces, I turned over, propped my head on my arm, and complained, "I could have walked here, sheesh."

**The Next Morning**

I woke to the pleasant sound of Shadow and Silver arguing in the other room. I dragged myself out of bed and changed my suit from pajamas to my 'default' setting. Satisfied with my attire, I opened and walked through my bedroom door. I turned to my right to see Silver in his suit he set last night. Shadow was also wearing his suit; the pants were like mine only black with a red spike running from the sides of his waist down the leg, the torso was also black with red spikes going from the shoulders to the chest and the sleeves had a red spike from the wrists to the elbows, and his red emblem given to him by Gun from the Black Arms crisis was on the left side of his chest like my tornado.

"I told you twice already, you AREN'T going to Earth!" Shadow shouted at Silver while slamming his hands on the table.

"But I have to see if Blaze is okay, she could be in danger; they ALL could be!" Silver countered while slamming his fists down like Shadow.

Yawning, I walked up and opened the fridge looking for some orange juice. While I rummaged, I asked, "Alright, I'll give; what are you two going on about now?"

After I fixed me a glass, Shadow replied while crossing his arms, "I got a report from Rouge that Tails called the girls wanting them to see something; more specifically, he wanted just Rouge, but since she is supposed to be watching Amy and Blaze, they went too."

"So what's the big deal? It's not like Tails or anyone else would try anything with them; I trust Tails and the others," I said between sips.

"Maybe, but what Shadow didn't say was that Rouge said that everyone but Tails and Charmy were severely hurt by Eggman's new robot. Basically, he called the girls over WITHOUT defeating the enemy!" Silver nearly exploded at me.

Shadow rolled his eyes and explained, "Like I told Silver, Rouge reported that the android was last seen on Angel Island at the Shrine of the Master Emerald. It also did not give chase, meaning that for whatever reason he's there, it has nothing to do with attacking our friends."

"So," I asked, "what does it want then?"

"We don't know, but Shadow won't let us go to find out!" Silver shouted towards Shadow.

"Do you want a Spear up the ass?!" Shadow shouted back.

"Bring it, 'Faker'!" Silver countered.

"GUYS!" I shouted at both of them after putting my cup down. "Will ya both shut up already?! Shadow, is Metal Sonic there yet?"

"He goes by 'Metal' now, and yes. He saved Vector before the android could finish him off. Rouge reported that Tails said that Metal then warped back to the Shrine to finish the fight," Shadow replied calmly.

"'Metal', huh?" I asked smiling, "Sounds like he's a changed person; er, I mean, android."

"Your first guess was right, Sonic," Shadow said while smiling, "seeing as he is alive now, with flesh and blood; chrome flesh and mercury blood, but still."

"What?! But how did you-" I began before a beeping from Shadow's pocket interrupted me.

"This is Rouge; Shadow, can you hear me?" a voice called from Shadow's Gun radio.

He took it out and replied, "Loud and clear, what's the situation?"

"Everyone I listed as injured previously have made a full recovery, looks like Gun really came through with Metal. He healed everyone before going back to Angel Island," she reported.

Silver spoke up asking, "Rouge, are you all okay?"

"Is that Silver? He does know that we were nowhere near the android, right Shadow?" Rouge asked curiously.

Shadow, while facepalming, replied, "Yeah, he knows, he's just really stubborn and a little thickheaded."

Rouge let out a giggle at Shadow's joke and said, "Regardless, yes Silver, we're all fine; Blaze too."

Silver blushed at her teasing while I requested, "Rouge, Shadow, can I head down to Angel Island? I want to see Metal on the field; plus I want to stretch my legs." I started to do my daily stretching that I did normally before a good jog.

"I don't see a problem in it honey, all of us here are in Tails' Cyclone right now. You know, the big silver and yellow one; we are going to check up on him and provide assistance if necessary," Rouge replied.

Shadow's eyes widened and he spoke up saying, "Rouge, you know you were told not to engage or go anywhere near anything to do with Eggman; that's the very reason you and the others are in hiding to begin with!"

She sighed through the radio and assured him, "Relax, we'll be fine. We have all these big, strong Mobians here to keep us safe. You worry too much, sweetheart."

"Keep in mind that those 'big, strong Mobians' were in critical state earlier. Plus, Metal is probably still learning how to use his powers; who knows when the next time he can perform that healing he did again? Maybe a few days for all we know!"

I pulled my Chaos Emerald out and nodded at Shadow and Silver. Nodding back, they reached for theirs too. We all said "CHAOS…CONTROL!" and began to shine white with energy.

We could hear her say just before warping, "Tails, punch it darling, there's some light shining over near the Shrine. Shadow, relax okay? Shadow, are you there?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Greetings my loyal readers and friends! Tis I, Kn1ghtw1ng93, bringing you the next chapter of Chaos Unleashed! This chapter will be the start of what I believe many people have been waiting for, to find out what I mean, keep reading! XD**

**Also, I will continue with Shadow's past in Chapter 12 and give an update on Talon on chapter 14; I already have plans for chapter 13 ;)**

**As always, reviews are gladly welcome! I would like to see what you, the audience, would like to see; whatever you want, I will try to fit it somewhere in the main story or on the side if I have to. I always love to see what ShadowEmpress76 has to say about my chapters, but more than one voice would be nice. I am also giving a big thanks to those of you who have are following my story; Ryan-Sinclair, ShadowEmpress76, and TynxCann. It means a lot to me.**

**Next chapter should be up Thursday-Friday give or take; but until then, enjoy Chapter 11!**

**Chapter 11: Arrival**

**Angel Island, Shrine of the Master Emerald; After Metal's Healing**

**Metal's POV**

I reappeared on top of the Master Emerald's shrine in a white flash. The moon was high in the sky as it was getting closer to morning. I first came here and saved Vector when the sun was just setting; now it was dark and getting hard to see. I adjusted my sight to night-vision and scanned the perimeter for Eggman or the android; they weren't anywhere to be seen at the shrine.

I was slightly out of breath from helping the others; using my new healing powers really tired me out. I crossed my arms and closed my eyes as I tried to sense where Eggman and the copy-bot were while taking a breather. I focused on what I remember them both looking like from before; Eggman in black and blue clothes and the white android with red gloves and shoes. After a minute of focusing I began to feel like someone was watching me from behind. I turned quickly in the direction I believed someone would be standing; only to find that it was a squirrel on a tree at the edge of the forest.

I sighed in relief and smiled while saying out loud, "I guess they left; can't say I blame them after what I did just a sec-" I was cut off by something slamming into my back, sending both of us from the shrine through the forest and into three trees before stopping on a large rock in a small clearing with moonlight shining down through the canopy. I was face first with the rock with my arms and legs spread from the impact. Whatever hit me was strong and round; and it was spinning on my back!

"Sneak attack successful; subject incapacitated," stated the monotone creature that removed itself from my back. After I heard it land, I warped from the rock to behind what hit me and roundhouse kicked it on the right side of the head. The creature was sent soaring through the forest, knocking down five trees with it. I readied myself in case it attacked again. I could head it rummage through the broken branches that it landed in until it came into the light of the moon; it was the android from before.

I smiled and shouted to it, "Next time don't hold back; and make sure the opponent is really 'incapacitated' before you let your guard down!"

It did not respond; instead, it charged a spin-dash and shot at me. I jumped back to the nearest tree and kicked off it, launching myself head-first at the android. We both had colored streaks following us as we collided and darted between the trees; I had a bluish-silver trail behind me as I kicked off the trees away from Copycat's white blur as it followed a split-second behind me. I grabbed a branch and flipped around towards Copycat and lunged at it feet-first. It did a corkscrew; both dodging my attack and grabbing my feet before spinning and throwing me through a few more trees.

'This isn't good; my healing technique took too much out of me,' I thought as I crouched into the debris that I landed in to try to conceal myself for a breather. 'Think Metal, weakness; what is its weakness?' I looked through the branches at where I heard Copycat stepping towards where I landed; which was a few feet left of where I was now. 'I am the Chaos Element of Water; I have to be able to do more than heal, but I'm already too tired to do anything even if I do have more powers. Could I use the Emerald? I use it for Chaos Control, but can it do more?' I thought while holding my breath waiting for an opening to strike.

"Beginning thermal scan," stated Copycat as a wide red beam shot out of its eyes. The beam was scanning from the treetops down to its own feet; luckily it started the scan away from me. The android then turned to the right slightly and repeated the scanning process.

I studied the diameter of the beam and calculated how long it would take before it found me. 'I have five minutes to think of something,' I determined, 'but if I move at this close a range, it will hear me and engage on the spot. Not to mention that I am organic now, so my stamina can actually run out; however the android will have unlimited stamina unless its energy is drained.' I thought for a second on my last thought and smiled. 'That's it! He's an android, an Eggman model at that; if I can somehow expose Copycat's power source and rip it out or destroy it, then it should power down!' I nodded inwardly at my plan and noticed that I had two minutes left before I was discovered. 'Now, how do I do it?' I raised my hands up to my face and cupped them together. After I did this, I focused on water; after a few seconds, my hands were filled with the silver liquid. I stuck my tongue out and into the water; it was cold and refreshing exactly like mountain water.

I smiled and absorbed the water back up. Now all I had to do was expose the main battery for the android. My thoughts were cut short when I heard, "Subject confirmed; continuing assault."

"Shit," I said before back-flipping out the way of a spindash. When I landed, I focused on coating my body in the same water as earlier. Copycat stood up and dashed at me again, which I dodged by sidestepping to my left. I tried again to make a water-cloak to no avail. The white android jumped over me and turned to face me while landing in a kneeling position with its eyes lit up; it seemed to either be studying what I was doing or taking the opportunity to report to Eggman.

I abused the temporary cease in combat to think of what to do next, then I thought, 'I don't have enough energy to coat myself in water, but maybe the Chaos Emerald does…' I began to draw power from the silver Emerald that I was given on the Ark; immediately, I noticed that I started to feel a cool sensation across my entire body. As my body became coated in the silver liquid I thought, 'Better keep this up; that way when I find the battery, I'll already have the water I need.'

After I was coated entirely, I raised my now mirror-like left hand and looked down to it. The reflection was of a chrome reptilian-scaled version of me with black eyes and a silver iris that looked like a reptiles; I also had a silver watery aura around me. Then I got creative; I crouched and whipped my right hand behind me, which shot a chrome watery tendril out of my palm. I smiled when I realized that this new form of me was supercharged with power; Water Element power, to be precise. I flexed my fingers on my left hand and whipped it behind me to make another whip; one in each hand now.

Copycat's eyes dimmed and it looked up slightly before stating, "Data recorded; communication relay activated." I then heard what sounded like Eggman's voice call out, "Boy, 'Metal', you sure have changed since we first met! Copycat sensed a spike in your energy levels and recorded the data before notifying me; I am intrigued to say the least."

I growled at Eggman's statement and shouted, "Where are you, you coward! Stop hiding so I can arrest you for Gun!"

"You work for Gun?!" he asked, in shock I assume. "I would have never guessed that you of all beings would work for them, but I shouldn't be too surprised; Shadow works for them, after all."

"There's nothing wrong with working with them, they created me after all to help Sonic; which is exactly what I intend to do to make up for the troubles I caused him in the past!" I countered, "And Shadow is a damn good friend who trusts me; he is the one who sent me here!"

Eggman laughed loudly through Copycat at my response; after a minute of composing himself, he said, "Believe what you want to believe, but will Sonic accept you as easily as Shadow? You both were created by Gun, remember? Of course Shadow will accept you, but you weren't trying to kill him like you were Sonic. You're nothing but a weak, pathetic replica of Soni-"

I cut him off by shouting in fury "SHUT UP!" and whipped both my tendrils at the android at breakneck speeds. The watery whips made contact on both sides of the android and engulfed it in silver-transparent liquid. I then squeezed my hands into fists, which caused the water to condense on the android to the point where the android could not move at all; only the head was left alone.

I approached the android and said, "This is incapacitating your enemy, you cheap pile of junk!"

I could hear behind me the sound of an engine. I pulled my left hand from the android and whipped it behind me, striking a missile and then the vessel that shot it; Eggman's transport.

"Grr, you pest!" Eggman shouted as he roughly landed 30 meters behind me. He got out and stumbled away from the machine before it blew up in a burst of flying metal and fire.

I spread my tendril out and put the fire out while saying to Eggman, "Tell me, Eggman," I finished the android by crushing it under the water pressure I had it held by, "what were you saying about me a few seconds ago?"

He began to panic and stutter unrecognizable gibberish. I retracted my tendrils and clenched my fists. "Eggman," I began, "all you have ever been is a problem. From the day you made me your weapon; I have done nothing but bad, evil things. I gained my freedom from evil one year ago; I found my creator, my father. I also made friends with Shadow and Rouge, as well as Omega and nearly all of Gun. But I have done more than that, I have also gotten stronger." As I gave my speech, I slowly walked closer to him, one step at the end of each sentence.

"Stronger? How, machines can't get stronger; they are limited by what they are programmed to be," Eggman questioned.

"With this," I stated while taking out my Chaos Emerald, "I have been chosen as the new Chaos Element of Water. I don't know what my purpose is as the Water Element, but until I know, I will protect this Emerald as well as the Master Emerald and the entire planet from evil like you."

Something wasn't right with Eggman; he started smiling and asked, "So, the Emerald 'chose you' did it?"

I began to feel like I made a mistake; I pocketed my Emerald and replied, "What does it matter to you?"

"Oh, my dear boy, it means the world to me," he said, "seeing as I came here solely looking for answers to the mysterious Chaos Emeralds; but you seem to know one of their secrets. Tell me what you know, and I will be on my way."

I smiled and then broke out into laughter at his demand. "You're kidding, right? I just defeated your android AND your transport. You have no way to fight me OR escape. I'm done with this silly game of 20Q," I extended my right hand and encased Eggman's hands in watery handcuffs, "you're under arrest, Dr. Eggman."

As I walked closer to him so I could teleport him to Gun's holding facility, a blinding white light shone from where appeared to be the Master Emerald's Shrine. 'Oh no…' I thought. Still in my chrome scaled form, I lifted Eggman with my tendril and began to run to the light. I started to slide a little and noticed that in this form I could skate like Shadow. 'Cool' I thought to myself as I neared the clearing.

"What is that?!" Eggman shouted from behind me.

"I don't know, but it's getting brighter!" I answered while squinting.

**Tails' Workshop, During the Conversation**

**Tails' POV**

"Rouge, Blaze, Amy; come in, quickly," I said as I held the door open. They all thanked me, regardless of how angry Rouge seemed, and immediately noticed Knuckles, Espio, and Vector on the pallets/couch.

"Oh my god, it's worse than Rouge said it was!" Amy shouted as she ran over to first Knuckles and Espio. She saw the silver liquid balls with tendrils connected to their arms and asked me, "What are these, Tails?"

"They are some form of healing spheres; they've already healed them halfway from the looks of it," I said while walking up to her and looked closer at them, "he said that they shrank into nothing when they are completely healed."

"Who said this, if you don't mind me asking," Blaze questioned as she stayed at a safe distance from the silver orbs, eyeing them questionably.

"Yeah, you said you had something to tell me? I assume it's about this," Rouge said as she crossed her arms while standing next to Blaze. She was, unlike Amy and Blaze, dressed to be asleep right now. She wasn't wearing make-up as she usually did and she wore a black t-shirt with pink and white fuzzy pajama pants; she looked beautiful without her make-up, but I'm too shy around her to ever tell her that.

"Oh yeah, um…well, they were made by Metal Sonic," I stated sheepishly to her. I could feel my cheeks burn slightly when I thought that she may not have been wearing a bra.

"So, Shadow decided that Metal Sonic could use some exercise? There's nothing wrong with that; but I want to know how he made these 'healing orbs'," Rouge replied with a smile while gesturing with her right hand at the slowly shrinking floating balls.

I snapped out of my perverted trance when Amy snapped her fingers in front of my eyes and said, "Tails are you okay? You look kinda red in the face. Are you getting sick?" Rouge giggled at Amy's questions while seeming to know what I was thinking.

I laughed and scratched the back of my head while trying to regain myself. "Y-yeah Amy, I'm fine! And as for 'Metal', as he likes to be called now, he looked different. Completely different," I stuttered trying to change the subject from me.

We all turned to Knuckles and Espio who were starting to wake up as the last of the chrome orbs disappeared inside of them. "W-what happened…?" Knuckles asked as he slowly sat up. He appeared to be okay; Espio also sat up rubbing his head.

Before anyone could answer him, Amy rushed over and strangled him in a hug while shouting, "Knuckles, you're okay! We were so worried about you, Espio, and Vector!" She began tearing up while smiling and squeezing harder.

Espio, who was simply given a pat on the shoulder from a certain smiling bat turned to Amy and stated, "Uh, Amy, I don't think he can breathe."

"Huh?" she asked while turning to face the echidna in her grasp. His face was turning blue as he flailed his arms to no avail. Gasping and apologizing, Amy released him, to which he took a deep breath and started panting. "Hehe, sorry, Knuckles," Amy apologized.

Through breaths, he responded smiling, "No…worries…Amy…I know…you all…were…worried…about…us…"

"Well, as much as I hate to ruin this touching moment," Rouge said, gaining the attention of everyone including the now awoken crocodile, "Metal is, as Tails and Charmy said, off to fight Eggman's android. We need to go there to give support if need be; can't have him taking up all the fun now, can we?" She then turned to me and asked, "Do you have a plane that can hold all of us?"

I thought for a minute and responded, "Yeah, my Cyclone will work; but what about the others? Don't they need more rest before we go?"

Blaze and Amy both waited for Rouge's answer; Rouge finally said after a few seconds of thinking, "Well, they just finished getting healed, right? I think they'll be fine, they're big boys now, a few bruises and sores won't be a problem for them." At that, she then turned and walked through a door labeled 'Hanger'.

After we made sure that Knuckles, Espio, and Vector could walk, we followed. The door led to a spiral staircase that descended for about five minutes. When we got to the bottom, Rouge was propped on the metal door waiting. "Something wrong?" I asked her.

"I'll say, I can't get in!" she almost snapped. I forgot that I had a retina scanner on the door that only opens for me.

I laughed sheepishly and walked up to the scanner and looked in it. After a second or two, the door opened. Everyone besides Knuckles, Amy, and me were gawking at my variety of planes that I had. I had a red biplane, a yellow biplane that transforms into a car and boat, a blue biplane that transforms into a jet, and my silver and yellow jet; the Cyclone.

"Here it is," I stated while motioning towards the Cyclone. It was larger than my other planes, for sure; instead of hopping into the cockpit like my other ones, this baby had a door in the back that lowered like a drawbridge. It could also fly in space, theoretically; I hadn't tried it yet.

Blaze walked up to it and gently stroked the side while saying, "It's beautiful, Tails; did you make it from scratch?"

Before I could answer, Amy answered cheerfully while smiling, "Well yeah; he makes all of his planes from scratch!"

"WOOOOOW, IT'S HUGE!" Charmy erupted once he, Vector, and Espio got closer.

"Charmy, calm down a little, will ya? I've got some kind of headache right now," Vector asked while rubbing his head.

"Sorry!" Charmy squealed.

Knuckles, who still needed to prop up on me, asked, "So, we're going back?"

"Yeah," I answered him, worried about his injuries as well as the others well beings.

He smirked and bumped his fists together while saying, "Good, time for some payback!"

"Oh no you don't, mister!" Rouge interjected, "You're going to stay on the ship with Vector, Espio, and Charmy; and I don't wanna hear any excuses, got it sugar?"

He grumbled to himself as his response. Satisfied, Rouge asked me, "On the way, I need to borrow your radio and let Shadow know what's going on."

**Continuing from Chapter 10**

**Shadow's POV**

We appeared directly in front of the steps to the Master Emerald at the shrine; a large white light was being emitted from behind it. "Let's move," I commanded to Sonic and Silver, "Sonic go left, Silver go high, I'll go right. Disperse!"

At my command, Sonic dashed off in his direction and Silver flew up over the shrine as I skated around to rendezvous with them on the other side. When we got there, we saw Eggman in liquid-like handcuffs and a chrome scaled hedgehog standing in front of him.

The hedgehog turned towards me and called out, "Shadow, it's me; Metal! This light came from nowhere right after I arrested Eggman!"

"Metal Sonic?!" Sonic questioned as he approached Metal.

Metal smiled and extended his right hand to Sonic while saying, "Seeing as in the past I was forced to battle you, I feel we should start on the right foot. I am Metal the Hedgehog, the Chaos Element of Water."

"Element of Water?" Silver asked as he lowered himself down to us, keeping his eyes on the light.

"So, the silver Emerald chose you? That explains how you were able to transform into your Chaos Form; I hadn't even taught them how to do it yet," I explained while motioning to the others.

Eggman spoke up, "Will someone mind explaining what's goi-" Metal, without looking, snapped his fingers on his left hand and a watery tendril from the handcuffs shot up to his face and covered his mouth.

Sonic laughed and shook Metal's hand while smiling big and stated, "Well then, it's nice to meet you, Metal."

After formalities were finished, we turned back to the light; which appeared to begin taking the shape. "Get ready, we don't know what it is or what it can do," I warned them. Silver, Sonic, and Metal all nodded in agreement.

The light began to dim slightly so that we could see what appeared to be a large capsule. "Shadow!" I heard someone call me from behind. I turned to see Rouge, Amy, Blaze, and Tails all emerge from the forest. "What are you doing here? Were you the source of the light?" Rough asked.

"No, this capsule is," I responded, "it appeared out of thin air, like Chaos Control. Have Gun come over and study it. If it is harmless, then have them take it to Prison Island for further study." She nodded and took my cell phone as I extended it to her.

"Thanks, I left mine at the hotel," she explained while dialing the number. She then walked off to give her orders.

Sonic had begun to talk to Amy after hugging her, Silver and Blaze were also talking (and blushing profusely), and Metal was asking Tails if the others were healed and how they were feeling.

Metal changed back to his normal form and asked me, "So now what? We can't just leave Eggman here and wait for Gun, he needs to be incarcerated."

I crossed my arms and answered, "I know, but we are needed here; mainly, because of the android. Did you defeat it?"

He smiled and said, "With little to no problems, too."

"Good," I stated, "now I'm going to get a better look at this thing."

As I started to walk up to the capsule, I noticed that Metal was at my side. I smiled at his readiness to help and looked closer at the mysterious pod before us. The others took note of our advancement and turned to watch us. The pod had a large glass window facing us that was tinted so dark that you couldn't see inside. I brushed my right hand against the glass slowly.

Instantly, the ground began to shake. Metal and I both backpedaled as we saw two yellow lights emit from the other side of the glass. We regrouped with the others and braced ourselves as the pod began to light up green. Silver shouted, "That light is like my telekinesis, I'm sure of it; GET BACK!"

Just as he finished his warning, the glass window shot out towards the girls; and stopped inches from Blaze's face as Silver caught it in his aqua aura.

"Silver, bubble shield!" I commanded. He nodded and took the front. He spread his hands and shouted 'HYA!' As he did, an aqua sphere encased all of us just as more pieces of the pod were hurled at us by the mysterious green aura.

After the pod was completely destroyed, a cold and dark laughter could be heard in the direction of where the pod stood. Blaze put both her hands on the ground and used her power of fire to make a fiery trail from us to the pod so that we could see in the dim moonlight; what we saw caught us all off-guard.

Standing in the ring of fire was a green hedgehog. He had five spikes on his head; two that hung long and low like Silvers, and three above them that resembled Sonics only with black streaks in them like my red ones. His gloves were grey with a green diamond on them like Silver's aqua circles that were lit with the same green aura as the pod was. His chest was furless like Sonics, his arms were green with black streaks like my red ones, and his shoes looked like Sonics only yellow where it was red and had a grey stripe where Sonics was white; it also had a black base like the red one on my air shoes.

His eyes were outlined black like the red mine and his eyes were a cold yellow. He smiled, exposing almost demonic fangs and stated in a deep and thundering tone, "I am Razor the Hedgehog, Chaos Element of Deception, and your worst nightmare."


	12. Update!

**Hello readers out there! Kn1ghtw1ng93 here with a few announcements.**

**First off; I am not finished yet! Chaos Unleashed is still underway, and I am still working on the next chapter as well as sketches for some of the characters (no promises). I have been ridiculously busy in the past few weeks and have been unable to do much on the story. There is good news, however! This chapter, when it is completed, will be by far my largest one, so it'll give you something to do while I work on following chapters.**

**Another announcement is that I would like to have some help with another story I plan to start. I will give details about the story in the form of a PM to whoever wants to be my partner. The reason is that I can't do it alone. I want to do another story but am impatient for the conclusion of Chaos Unleashed to start it.**

**Last order of business is this; What do you think should happen to Talon? More on him will be revealed 2 chapters from now, but I want opinions and ideas! Share your creativity with me, please! I am open to any suggestions.**

**With that, I am off to work on the story once again!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Greetings, loyal readers! Tis I, Sh4d0wKn1ght! First off, if anyone hadn't noticed, I changed my name from Kn1ghtw1ng93 to my current one. The reason is...I was bored but that's beside the point.**

**A few things I want to go over before most of you completely skip this and read the story anyways. First, this is part 1 of 2, chapter 12 was playing out to be so big that I decided to break it up so that the rest of you can go ahead and get a feel for it. Review your opinions and such or PM me if you just wanna talk. I get lonely now and then...**

**Second order of business is; I'm sorry for not updating my story in so long, things have been HECTIC and I have had little to no time to even touch my laptop. The announcement just before this chapter was done on my phone once I actually caught a breather.**

**Third order of business; Not anytime soon, but later on, Ultra Chaos and I will be writing a story together. It will be more than likely 2 POVs with every other chapter being about 1 of the 2 main characters. More details will be announced in the future. PS: Ultra Chaos, if you're reading this, PM me regularly about ideas and such, I may be able to help with your story(s) and vice versa.**

**Thank you for being so patient; as always, enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 12: Checkered Past Part 1**

**Angel Island, Shrine of the Master Emerald; Midnight**

The wind howled around the shrine as the two forces stared each other down, ready for whatever the other would do next. The clouds shifted, causing the scene to change as the group became enveloped into the moons midnight light. The areas just beyond the shrine, in the forest, lie in ruins from the battle between Copycat and Metal; the shrine itself had suffered slightly from combat just moments ago.

The mysterious green hedgehog announced, "I am Razor the Hedgehog, Chaos Element of Deception, and your worst nightmare!" He spread his arms out in emphases while starting to levitate into the air as his green aura lit the area better than the moons natural light. He floated up to the top of the shrine where the Master Emerald was before Knuckles claimed it a few nights beforehand. His aura faded so that the moon cast the needed light to see once again.

Four hedgehogs stood in-between their new foe and their friends. From left to right, Sonic, Shadow, and Metal, with Silver levitating behind Shadow, stood ready for anything. Silver focused on his shield while keeping his eyes on Razor.

"Where are you from, and what is it you are here for?" asked Shadow through the barrier.

The green hedgehog lowered his left arm and brought his right hand before him while replying, "I'm a time traveler of sorts. As for why I am here, well…I'm here for this." With a smirk, he snapped his fingers. In a flash of green light, as well as with a terrified shriek, Eggman was warped out of sight. Those below the shield, except Espio, turned to where Eggman had just been sitting in a mix of shock and confusion as only Metal's shackles were left on the grass.

"Where did he go?!" Sonic asked in anger as he turned back to Razor. As he stared him down, he noticed movement just behind the new threat; a reflection of the moon off of something metal.

Rouge (who was in front of Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Blaze) asked, "You only teleported him, right? If so, tell us where he is; we have unfinished business with him."

Razor studied her for a few moments through the force-field and answered, "While it is true that I warped him away, I believe that you are not in the position to demand anything of me. I took him somewhere safe, as I too have need of him. However, my business does not concern you, so just go back to your little plane and fly away before you make me angry." He then went wide-eyed for a second before shouting, "ACK!"

Razor was stabbed through his chest from behind with a knife; more specifically, a kunai. Espio, panting slightly, was shakily holding the blade in his foes back while asking, "Let's try this again," he twist the knife, "where…is…the doctor…?"

Everyone in the aqua dome stared in shock and awe at Espio's actions before Vector finally spoke up, "What do you think you're doing, Espio?! We need him alive! And since when do you go on the offensive first and ask questions later?" Charmy nodded vigorously in agreement while everyone else awaited his reasons for action.

Espio, ignoring his friends for some unknown reason, pulled another knife out and held it to Razor's throat. "Last chance; where did you warp Eggman?!" he demanded.

Through gasps of air and blood, Razor replied, "I'll give you…one chance…to walk away…and act…like you didn't…do anything. Take the knives…turn around…and walk away…or I'll kill you…" Espio, ignoring him, twisted the knife in his back more.

"Espio stop this, this isn't you! We don't know what he can do, get out of there; PLEASE!" Amy shouted at him while starting to cry. She fell to her knees as the tears fell with her; Blaze and Rouge tried to comfort her as Shadow looked over all of his friends and their reactions to Espio's outburst.

Shadow then turned to Sonic and nodded, did the same to Metal, and dashed out of the shield with each of them on his side. Shadow shot a spear at Espio's hand, sending his knife at Razor's throat flying back towards the others, only to be stopped and lowered to the ground by Silver. Sonic kicked Espio away from Razor and restrained him while Metal restrained Razor with liquid shackles. He then began to pull the knife from Razor's back, healing him slightly as he did so.

Espio shouted, "What are you doing? Let me go damn it, he's the enemy; he attacked us, threatened us, and kidnapped Eggma-"

"Can it, we know the truth," interjected Sonic as he carelessly told Espio as he kept him restrained, "Razor." At this, Espio's eyes went wide.

The green hedgehog turned around slowly to face Sonic and stated weakly, "T-thank you…" He then collapsed unconscious.

Metal looked him over and said, "He'll be fine…after he's put back into his own body, that is."

'Espio' smiled as his eyes lit up green. "So, you caught on quickly I see. I underestimated you three. How did you know?"

"Espio isn't reckless like that," Shadow explained while holding a spear up to 'Espio's' throat, "and he doesn't just let a knife go when it gets hit; it could have hurt one of our friends, another thing he doesn't do."

"That, and I could see that your energy levels changed dramatically right before Espio attacked," Metal continued.

The controlled chameleon chuckled darkly as he said, "Good work, but did you anticipate this?" The light in Espio's eyes faded as Razor's body was reduced to a green mist; Espio passed out in Sonic's arms. As the three prepared themselves, they could hear Razor's voice thunder around them as he explained, "I have more important matters to attend to at the moment, such as dealing with the doctor. I bid you all farewell, for now. Oh, and Shadow, I just wanted to let you know that you are free to try and stop me from taking the Eye of Chaos from Sector 0." With that, and a evil laugh, the green mist faded into nothing.

Metal looked around and deduced, "He's gone; what did he mean by the Eye of Chaos, Shadow? Shadow?"

Shadow, however, had not heard Metal's question, as his eyes were wide with fear for the first time in his life; a feeling Sonic felt resonating from him. "Shadow, are you okay?" Sonic asked while patting his shoulder.

Shaking from surprise at the contact, Shadow responded, "What? Oh, yes, I'm fine. We need to move somewhere safe that has a hospital for Espio," completely changing subject. "Rouge, call Gun and arrange an escort to Soleanna for all of you," he commanded. He then turned to Metal and asked, "Stay with them, keep them safe, okay? I still have to teach Sonic and Silver how to use their Chaos Forms as you have learned yourself."

Metal nodded in agreement as he jumped down to the others. Silver dispelled his shield and flew up to Sonic. He used his telekinesis to lift Espio gently into the air and brought him down to a waiting Vector and Charmy. They thanked him before he flew back to Shadow. "Now what?" he asked Shadow.

Shadow took out his green emerald and answered, "We kick up our training, we don't have much time." He turned to Rouge, who was on her communicator with Gun and said, "Look into that orange hedgehog too; I have a feeling that he's connected to this somehow."

"Not so fast, sweetheart, you have some explaining to do; like what the Eye of Chaos is and where Sector 0 is." Rouge countered while flying up to him. Everyone else, except Vector and Charmy, looked up to him in anticipation. Tails and Knuckles jumped up and stood at Sonic's sides while Amy helped Metal tend to Espio.

The black hedgehog sighed in defeat and explained, "The Eye of Chaos is a gold staff with a clear Chaos Emerald on the top of it; it is the most powerful emerald in existence, more powerful than all seven plus the Master Emerald we have here. Sector 0 is in deep space, more specifically on the edge of our solar system. It's a planet that is mostly jungle with a floating utopia of gold and chrome machinery around the surface, like Angel Island floats around Earth when the Master Emerald is on the shrine."

"If I may interject," Blaze spoke up as she walked up the stairs and stood near Silver, "how is it that you know all of this?"

Looking around at the group surrounding him (Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Silver, and Blaze), he answered, "I know of it because I destroyed it."

**Green Forest, Crater on Earth's Surface; 10 minutes after escape pod impact**

**Shadow's POV**

I slowly awoke to the sounds of what appeared to be a forest as there were various birds and other animals around me both near and far. The echoes of their cries shook me from my drowsiness as I cracked my eyes open.

The sun's blinding rays penetrated through the canopy down to where I lay as I closed my eyes again to escape the light. My arms and legs were spread out in the grass as I heard creaking metal to my left and right, which I assumed to be the remnants of my escape pod. I lifted my right hand up to my face and looked it over while asking aloud, "Why did all of this have to happen today of all days?"

Behind me, I heard a deep rumbling voice respond, "Because you are a very special creature, Shadow."

Instantly alerted by the noise, I jumped up and turned towards the sound with a spear at the ready. My eyes were welcomed by the greyish-black and red floating form of Black Doom; I clenched my teeth in anger and went to throw the spear, only to find that I couldn't move. I darted my eyes left to right trying to find whatever was restraining me to no avail.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" I shouted at him as tears began to form in my eyes. "I HAVE ALREADY LOST SO MUCH, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?!"

"My dear Shadow, you misunderstand my intentions; I had nothing to do with Gun's attack. If it wasn't for me, you would have died in that escape pod when it landed," Doom explained.

"Then what do you need? Can't you see I just want to be left alone?" I demanded.

Doom floated around me, observing my injuries no doubt, before stopping in front of me and raising his right hand. As he did so, my body shifted from attacking to standing against my will. "I need your skills to get something precious to me in Sector 0," he explained.

"Hmph, never heard of it," I discarded while still trying to move.

"If you help me, then I will save _**her**_," he promised coldly; my ears perked at this.

"How do you plan to do that? She was killed," I explained, my mind stinging at the memory.

"I poses the power to travel through time," Doom told me, "in fact, Sector 0 is located in the past, as it is the birthplace of the Chaos Emeralds, such as this one," he showcased the green Chaos Emerald before extending it to me. "Help me with my desire, and I will help you with yours," Doom bargained. He released his control over me so that I could take it.

I grabbed it for the first time, as I have never even seen a Chaos Emerald before now, I noticed that it began to glow brightly to my touch. I held it for a minute observing its beauty as I felt something other than light coming from inside the gem. Before I knew it, I was answering him, "Alright, I will help you."

"Excelent," he stated with satisfaction in his voice. He then observed the Emerald in my hand and said, "Interesting, it seems that this Emerald takes a liking to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked while still staring at the Emerald. It was like all my problems seemed to vanish with this gem in my hands.

Doom raised both of his hands into the air, as he did so a hologram of sorts appeared with six more Emeralds along with this one I was holding and a large green one floated around. "This is a picture of the seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald," Doom explained, "the Master Emerald controls the power fluctuation of the Chaos Emeralds. Each Emerald has a base Element. They are Water (Silver), Fire (Red), Wind (Dark Blue), Construction (Yellow), Destruction (Green), Deception (Light Blue), and Time (Purple). Each Emerald has a living representation of their base element somewhere throughout the cosmos; it appears that you are the Element of Destruction, Shadow."

I didn't know what to say; after everything that's happened to me so far, it was almost too much to handle. I asked him, "So…this Sector 0, where is it? How long will it take to get there?"

Doom floated behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "It is a planet on the edge of space itself. For me, the journey there will be roughly an hour; for you, however, it will only be minutes."

I was about to ask him what he meant, but before I could Doom shouted, "Chaos Control!"

I closed my eyes as a blinding white flash of light encased us; after a few minutes, I opened my eyes again. I noticed we weren't in the same jungle as before, however it was still a jungle as far as I could tell. I was exhausted and fell to my hands and knees, panting hard but unsure why.

In my head, I could hear Doom speaking to me. He said, "It appears travelling through space and time has taken its toll on you, Shadow. Rest, and when you awaken, you shall begin your task."

After he said that, I suddenly felt even more tired than before. I yawned and collapsed on the soft purple grass beneath me.

**Sector 0, Planet's Surface; 3 hours later**

"Awaken, Shadow," the dark voice spoke menacingly in my mind as I turned over from my back to my stomach. I groggily stood on all fours as I crawled to a pond that was a few feet to my left. I hadn't hydrated myself in a long time and was feeling really hot tired from the humid climate of this mysterious exotic forest. I was thirsty, and didn't care if the water was poisonous or not. As I neared the red water, the voice from before spoke to me again saying, "The water is clean enough to consume, however there is no eatable wildlife near you; only deadly animals."

"What do you mean 'deadly animals'?" I asked in a hushed whisper so not to disturb anything around me.

I took a few sips as Doom explained, "This planet is entirely forested with high humidity and equally high temperatures. About five miles above the surface is a civilization that has constructed a flying utopia out of gold and silver, among other materials such as steel and diamond. There are many of these 'Angel Islands' surrounding the planet, which is roughly the size of Earth's moon. On one of these islands is a tool known by few as the Eye of Chaos. I want you to retrieve this for me, then destroy the islands; no questions asked. I will monitor you from within so that I may make sure you are loyal to me."

After he finished talking, my head began to throb in unimaginable pain as I felt every cell in my brain become covered by a veil of darkness. When I looked at my reflection in the water, I noticed my iris had changed from red to black. "I guess there's no objecting to you then. The sooner I do this, the sooner I can rid myself of you and finally be left alone; correct?" I asked Doom mentally.

I could hear him say faintly, "Correct. How you accomplish your task does not concern me; either kill everyone or sneak through their defenses. But know this; they will all die regardless of what you decide."

"What is so special about this Eye anyway? And what time is it on this planet?" I questioned as I stood up and began walking through the multicolored forest, looking for a way to the cities above. I decided it would be best to not think of the outcome of my actions here and chose to focus on my task; the sooner this is over, the sooner I can be in solitude at last.

Doom rumbled in my head, "This planet does not have a time; it exists and doesn't exist. It is just outside the reach of reality, and for good reason, as this is the birthplace of the galaxy."

I stopped walking and stabbed the nearest tree with a materialized spear while shouting in response, "Don't fuck with me, Doom! If you're trying to get me into some kind of religious war, count me out right now. I don't believe in any creation theories and have no interest in getting involved in one!"

My mind began to hurt as I felt Doom pressing his will over mine as he shouted, "YOU WILL DO AS I SAY WHETHER YOU WANT TO OR NOT!" After that, I fell to my knees holding my head in my hands in agony as I shouted to the canopy above. I stayed like this for nearly ten minutes before I limply let my arms fall along with the rest of me as I fell to my back.

I suddenly felt an unusual sensation begin to spread over my entire form from my head to my toes; a dark feeling that overshadowed my own will. The pain had subsided completely as I slowly stood with a large grin on my face. I walked over to a puddle in the mud and looked at my reflection. My normally red eyes became grey instead and all the red on my body had become a darker almost black shade. "Interesting, it seems the possession was a success; although a little more painful than it should have, master," I stated to Doom in my head.

He laughed in what I assume to be approval as he observed, "Now that I have corrupted your mind with my dark influence, I will no longer have to worry about disobedience; right?"

"I am your instrument of destruction, Lord Doom," I respectfully replied as I began stretching.

"Excellent," Doom thundered mentally as I started walking towards what appeared to be an unnatural clearing in the forest. "The inhabitants of this planet are all Mobian. They are mainly Echidna and Hedgehog, but there are a few Foxes and Cats as well," Doom explained as I studied the Mobians who were using hovering heavy-duty equipment to cut and harvest trees as well as vacuum much of the water from surrounding lakes and ponds. I stayed crouched in the blue bushes as the green trees continued to be lugged up on the machines as I also listened to Doom explain, "The Chaos Emeralds are going to be created tomorrow; what I want you to do is steal the Eye of Chaos AFTER the Emeralds are created. If you steal it BEFORE they are made, then a Time Paradox will be created, since we used a Chaos Emerald to get here in the first place."

"I understand," I stated as I studied three of the silver Cat Mobians in their golden armor overlooking a blue Chameleon Mobian and red Hedgehog Mobian operating the machines.

"You understand what you must do then?" Doom asked me.

"Steal the Eye of Chaos AFTER the Emeralds are made; casualties and fatalities are optional," I affirmed him.

"Good; contact me when the staff is in your possession," Doom commanded. With that, I could feel his presence leave my mind.

"Well, seeing as I don't know where the staff is being kept, I might as well ask for directions," I said aloud as I stood and walked towards the gilded guards, "I'm sure they'll cooperate nicely; though I rather they don't…"

**Thirty minutes later in the Hall of Order**

Among the flying islands was one that was easily twice the size of any other; this was the home to the Hall of Order, the home of the ruler of Sector 0 and his second in command. Known as "The General", the leader's second in command was walking down the hall after a meeting with the individual leaders of the neighboring islands regarding the natural resources found on the surface below. He had six spikes on his head; the four on left and right of his head was curved slightly upward midnight black hedgehog that was wearing gleaming silver armor with gold trimming and a green cape. He had authorized a small team to go and scavenge some of these resources such as trees and water nearly an hour ago.

"Sir, we have an intruder!" called one of the guards he assigned to his superior as he ran through the entrance and down the hall. The silver Cat was panting hard in his once gilded armor that was stained with red and brown along with scratches and dents covering most of the plating.

The General, who was a, called out, "Get a nurse over here now; take it easy there, son, and tell me what happened to you. Where are the others?"

"Dead, sir," he responded solemnly as he started to breathe harder, "Some kind of monster like nothing I've seen before attacked us."

"Describe the monster to me. Hey, stay awake! Come on, kid, stay with me!" the General shouted as he began to worry about the young Mobian's condition. Within a few minutes, two nurses finally found their way to the two who were on the hall's floor; one of them bloody and lifeless in the others hands.

But before the young Cat died, he whispered two words to the General, two words that set the General on edge and caused him to leave the body with the medics as he skated with his Airshoes down the winding corridors to the Leader's chambers; "Chaos Spear."

**Elsewhere**

"Well that was easy enough," Shadow stated as he walked past his two newest victims, both with red ethereal spears in their chests. The almost pitch black hedgehog walked through the entrance of a ground command station he learned of from one of the first guards he killed before the last one got away. "He mentioned a teleporter somewhere around here; I could just warp there myself if I knew where I was going," he talked to himself.

"That's far enough, you monster!" shouted a heavily armored guard with a large axe who appeared on the far right of the spacious lab that Shadow stood in the middle of. He wore iron armor that covered most of his reptilian body. "By orders of the Leader and the General, you are to be arrested and sent to the dungeon. If you resist, I have permission to bring you in piece by piece. The Leader and General will then question your intentions and origions."

Shadow laughed to himself at the coincidence of his situation and dropped to his knees with his hands up as he announced, "I surrender, then."

The guard cautiously approached the hedgehog who smirked while staying down. He placed his axe on his back and shackled Shadow's wrists behind his back. "Now move to the teleporter, worm," ordered the guard. Shadow complied, for now.

Once on the large circular platform, the guard reached up and pressed a button on the wall. Instantly, the dimly lit room exploded with white light as they were warped to a much brighter gilded room. Scientists were running this way and that as they were working on different tasks at the same time, the smell of coffee strong in the air as the guard and his prisoner exit to the right of the platform. Shadow paid close attention to his surroundings; whom was where and doing what for who, and how were they doing it and why.

After twenty minutes of walking, they finally reached the unnecessarily large iron doors to the dungeon. The guard banged the blunt end of his axe on the door; the only sound heard was the loud reverberating of the weapon making contact with the entrance. Slowly, the door screeched open allowing them to walk in. They then crossed over from luxuriously gilded to bluntly grey as they walked into the now stone room.

"This be the guards quarters, filth," the guard explained as they descended down a spiral staircase that was in the back left corner of the room. The sound of their shoes tapping, the guards armor clinging, and the axe handles thudding was the only sounds that could be heard as they descended two flights of stairs. They then walked into a dimly lit room that had no other prisoners in the iron bared cells. The guard pointed his axe to the one in the back center of the seven cells and stated, "Welcome home."

Shadow replied, "Hmph, about time." He walked into the cell and sat on the purple wooden bed with little more than a few sheets, dirty pillow, and an old mattress whose springs were nearly piercing through the fabric. "So when to I speak with the 'leader and general'?" the black hedgehog asked as the guard locked his cell door.

"Once they return from Angel Island. They were talking about using the Leader's scepter to make gems of some kind tomorrow. Don't see why, them Echidnas already have the big green gem, but it doesn't concern me and I don't ask questions. Now pipe down, your supper will be here in a few hours." the guard explained as he turned and went towards the exit.

Shadow, who was smiling again, responed, "Thank you, now I think I'll take my leave."

The guard started to turn back towards Shadow, but it was too late. Shadow had materialized two red spears; one he threw at the lock on his cell, shattering it and knocking the door wide open, the other he lunged at the guard with. There was a sickening sound of flesh and bone mixed with a blood-soaked scream from the guard as the spear met his lung and ribs. Quickly, Shadow yanked the spear out and spun around to place the other end in the back of the guard's head, ending his existence.

When he was satisfied with his foe now face down in a pool of blood, Shadow dashed towards the stairs, then almost flew up them with great speed. He kept a small dagger-like spear in his hands as he moved back towards the room with the teleporters, just in case a guard or scientist felt brave enough to challenge him. Sure enough, Shadow had arrived to the lab he first arrived in with the now dead guard; at least seven more guards stood in his way of the teleporter.

"Halt!" shouted the closest soldier as he kept his sword and shield ready.

Ignoring his command, Shadow warped behind him and stabbed him in the back. He then blocked the swords that came from both sides of him with his daggers and back flipped over a guard who was behind him, and used him as a human shield from a heavy guard's war hammer, the blow severely denting the steel armor. Shadow then dispelled his daggers and grabbed the sword on his now dead shield's side. He drew it just in time to dodge another merciless swing from the heavy. Shadow warped behind the heavy and cut his head off, kicking the lifeless body over as he threw two freshly made spears at the soldiers who dodged the heavy's body. The only soldier remaining was shivering in fear in the corner of the hall, just to the right of the door to the lab. Laughing at his cowardice, Shadow noticed that the soldier was a hedgehog with spikes much like his own. A wicked idea struck the black hedgehog as he raised his stolen sword to the scared soldier's neck, causing him to slowly tilt his head up and also stand.

Shadow grinned and demanded, "Take off your armor…"


	14. Updateagain!

**Greetings! Sh4d0wKn1ght here with a quick update. I am sorry for not posting the new chapter or anything for that matter in a long time. It is ridiculously busy over here, and it doesn't look like I'm going to get much time to work on this in the future. However, I am touching up on chapter 13 here and there, trying my best to get it up. Please, to the fans and followers I have, continue to be patient. It is coming, I swear.**

**Thank you for your support, and I again apologize for this misfortune.**

**Also, I am considering writing a Brony story for the brony fans out there that have PMed me. If and when I do get around to this, it will be a while before I even type the first word to it.**


	15. Updateupdateupdate

**Sh4d0wKn1ght here!**

**I don't deserve to really say this, but I'm sorry. I have hit a MASSIVE block in Chaos Unleashed. I am still working with it, but it isn't easy. Veteran writers who actually cast their gazes upon my story know what I mean, whereas others can understand this; writing is not easy.**

**I'm trying, really I am. However, I am taking three classes in college right now trying to at least finish getting my diploma before moving to the degree.**

**During the days of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I will be living with family out of town and be able to do little to nothing on this story. This update is an example of the "little" portion of that.**

**I'm not going to lie here…I have no idea when I'll finish the next chapter. I only have 1,284 words in this chapter right now versus the usual 3,000+ I try to put in each chapter. I could upload it early, but then I would have to have a Shadow's Backstory part 3.**

**Actually, why not; leave a review on what I should do. Should I go ahead and post this small bit and have a Shadow's Backstory part 3, or wait an unannounced amount of time to post the full chapter?**

**Keep in mind that if I break the chapter up, I will not have the following chapter be part 3. The chapter after I upload this one, regardless of the reviews, will go back to Soleanna and play out there, taking place during the few chapters beforehand.**

**I want to thank those of you who have waited and continue to wait (if you do that is) patiently for me. I am deeply sorry for this, and hate being late…but schooling comes first.**

**Thank you all so much! I will be making the decision to upload or wait for this chapter next week, at midnight Tuesday night.**

**I was going to start another story, but I highly doubt I'll have the time right now…keep an eye out though, you never know! **

**Signing off!**

**PS: Brohoof to the Brony brothers and sisters out there!**


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